The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations
by Grant Crose
Summary: The Council of Kings, Kion, Rani, Kiara and Kovu, has made a crucial decision, involving the future of the Pride Lands and its surroundings. The monarchs and their offspring must deal with the still hidden consequences of Kion's proposal. N: This is a fictional work, no supernatural concept depicted here should be practiced or believed in. Violence is not encouraged in any way.
1. Episode 1: Decisions

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 1: Decisions

"I remember, Kion. I remember when our Kingdom wasn't a silent, beautiful land. There were voices, sounds of life, that was what your father gave you, as well as Kovu and Kiara." Rani was contemplating the stars over the edge of the Pride Rock, next to Kion, who was also looking at the dark blue sky.

"Isn't this what we fought for?" Kion replied, the wind of the night gently moved his long mane, red as his father's. "Peace, Rani." He glanced at her. "Peace."

Rani was still focused on the sky above them and the Pride Lands. "Are peace and exile the same?" She glared at him.

Kion placed his forehead on hers. "How many times do I have to tell you?" He closed his eyes. "I did what I had to." He looked directly into her eyes again. "And you were part of that council." He turned and walked away from her, standing on the opposite side. "You very well know what your vote was, Rani." Kion spoke with a deep, firm voice that created an echo in the cave beyond the Rock.

Rani sighed and lowered her head, remembering the event that Kion was talking about, closing her eyes, the past getting before her as a vivid image.

"_This is madness, Kion! What could Simba think about this?!" Kovu confronted Kion, breaking the circle the four lions were forming over the __Pride__ Rock._

_Kion grunted. "My father is dead! Kovu!" He looked at h__is__ sister, Kiara, who glanced down by the statement, then Kion frowned and glared at Kovu again. "That's the truth, and also one of the many reasons we're here in the first place." He growled at him and Kovu went back to his spot. "Now, it's time to take a decision."_

"_Kion, maybe it's too soon to __d__…" Rani was interrupted by Kion's growl of warning, same as his stare._

_Kion sighed and shook his head. "I know this is drastic, but, there's more land beyond the Kingdom, they'll survive, I know it." Kion lifted his gaze and looked at them. "Do you want more death? More violence? Simba…" Kion turned and locked his gaze on the cold rock under his paws. "My dad…he tried to fix this." A tear fell from the corner of his eye. "And he was killed just because he wanted order." Kion frowned and approached the Council again, sitting on his spot and patting the rock with his paw, firmly and decidedly. "I express my vote, to exil__e the __half of the families of each species, to keep our land rich and preserve our survival..." He looked at each member of the Council of Kings, Rani, Kiara and Kovu. "As well as our brothers' and sisters', who will establish new domains outside of my father's Kingdom __and will __rule the exiled. __Only the ones loyal to my father and my grandfather will stay.__"_

_Rani, with a bit of hesitation, also patted the rocky ground with her paw. "I express my vote, in favor."_

_Kiara did the same, looking at Kovu for a moment, then she lowered her head. "I express my vote…" She thought about her decision again, then just confirmed it. "…in favor."_

_Kovu gasped when knowing the decision had been made. "This is…" He looked at Kion, frowning. "This is unfair!" He exclaimed after a growl. "They won't make it out there, they need our help!"_

_Kion growled and rapidly approached him, confronting him with daring eyes. "You mean our rulership! Your rulership!" He stated while starting to walk around him. "Once again, Scar's heir shows his benevolence…"_

"_Kion!" Kiara growled at him._

_Kion ignored his sister. "You care for them, you say, the zebras, the cheetahs, the elephants, the other lions." Kion's gaze was locked on his. "But you don't deceive me, Kovu. You are not Scar, that I know well." He sat down in front of him with confidence. "You've proven to be worthy of my family, and yet, you can't stand others to have power."_

_Kovu raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? This is a council, in case you didn..!"_

"_I know, I know, Kovu. But you don't really fear the danger that the exiled will live without us…you fear the leaders that will rise beyond these lands." Kion argued._

_Kovu gasped and backed away a bit. "That's…" He tried to make up an answer, but he knew that Kion was speaking with the truth. "Well, who ruled before you? Who ruled before Simba?" He got into his paws. "There has always been only one Kingdom! And you want to divide it! This is a treason to your past!"_

"_The past is gone! And the council has spoken! To let our Kingdom survive, the exile must go on! For the good of all!" K__ion__ exclaimed._

"_And what kind of Kingdom will your children reign? An empty land with war surrounding it! That's what you are proposing!" Kovu argued._

"_Who has talked about war, Kovu?" Rani intervened. "That's only your perception!"_

_Kovu let out a chuckle of mockery. "Come on, Rani, lions are always thirsty of power, of dominance! We couldn't even deal with the Battle of the Clans and now you want to give them lands of their own!"_

"_I'm giving them nothing, if they want to fight themselves to claim the ones outside of the __Kingdom__, that's not our business." Kion stated. "What is our business, is our family, your family, Kovu."_

"_For you, I was never truly a part of it." Kovu put a straight face, lowering down his tone a bit._

"_But you were for my father, and you are my sister's." Kion said. "And my nephews'." He backed away from him then turned and began to walk towards the cave. "The exile starts tomorrow." He looked back at them, Rani went with him after so. "The decision is clear."_

Rani opened her eyes and then looked at Kion, who was still facing the horizon, she then walked towards him and laid next to him. "Maybe I was…wrong."

Kion glanced at her then laid down, getting his neck over her head. "Wrong or not…it's too late."


	2. Episode 2: Journey

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 2: Journey

The sun was rising over the savanna, its powerful light entered the cave in the Pride Rock gently, bright enough to wake up Kovu and his cubs, and dim enough to make it a peaceful wake. Kovu blinked and let out a great yawn, one of a well rested night, getting over his paws, he then was playfully attacked by Zale on the muzzle, the older of his sons, who had the looks of his grandfather when he was his age, golden furred. Kovu laughed at his son's innocent bump, then his other son, Keru, who looked just like him when he was younger, jumped at his head and gently hit him with his open paws, chuckling, Kovu dropped himself down, sharing the laugh with his two cubs, with his paws facing the rocky ceiling.

"I got you, dad!" Zale rested his paws on Kovu's chest.

Keru bit his mane and started to pull it. "And there's only one wa…" Keru stopped biting as some fur had gotten in his mouth, he coughed a couple of times, provoking a laugh in his father and his older brother. "…there's only one way you'll get out of this!"

Kovu laughed. "And that would be?"

"Oh, come on dad." Zale glared at Keru. "He forgot!"

Kovu let out a subtle laugh, then Keru approached him again and after a quick jump he put his paws over his eyes, forcing him to close them. "No he didn't, he is just trying to fool us, aren't you, daddy?"

Kovu gently moved his son away from him with his paw then after another yawn he fully got over his paws again. "Oh, now I remember." He looked at them both with a smile. "We had a little trip to do today."

"The Ungari Waterfalls!" Both of the cubs exclaimed with excitement.

Kovu looked at the cave's entrance. "Well, maybe in one hour or two, I'm still…" He pretended a yawn. "…very tired."

"No…dad, come on!" Zale bit his front leg and Keru the other, wanting to force him to go.

Kovu let out a chuckle. "Okay, okay just stop bitting or I'll stay here forev…" His cubs rapidly obeyed him and ran towards the exit. He smirked and turned when hearing his mate waking up.

"Where are…" Kiara yawned. "…you taking them now, Kovu?"

"Good morning to you too." Kovu approached her and laid before her. "You wanna come?"

Kiara yawned again, shaking her head and closing her eyes. "You go." She rested her head between her paws. "Just don't lose your sight of them, alright?"

Kovu smirked. "Never." He licked her forehead and stood up again, glancing at her for a brief moment.

"Dad! Come on!" Zale's impatient voice echoed by the cave, then Kovu sighed and turned, finally walking towards his sons, who were already expecting him outside.

The three lions went down the Pride Rock and began their way to the Ungari Waterfalls, which was a special place for Kovu as it was the place where he went to when feeling Scar's rage close to him, that place gave him peace and he wanted the same for his sons, as he feared the lineage that would chase them forever just as him, but if there was a way he could suppress that anger in them, he would use it with no hesitation.

The cubs jumped happily over the grass that still was tall for them, glancing constantly at their father. "Hurry, dad! We want to spend all day there!" Zale said.

Kovu let out a chuckle and shook his head. "Your mother won't let us and you know it." He explained. "We'll return when the sunset, okay?"

"Oh, but, we can return tomorrow, can't we?" Keru inquired.

"Keru, we aren't there yet." Kovu responded after a laugh. "Wait until you see it, okay?"

"Yes, dad, yes but…" Keru insisted. "If it's just too awesome as you say? Can we return?"

Kovu let out a sigh while smirking at his younger son. "You can go the times you want, son." He looked up. "Now that you'll know the way there."

Zale gasped and stopped walking for a moment, looking over his back. "You mean we can go alone?"

Kovu chuckled. "Yeah, why not?"

Keru ran towards him and stood on his hind legs, resting his front ones on his dad's side. "But I don't want to go alone, daddy. I want you to come with us everyday!"

"Woah, everyday you say?" Kovu playfully moved his side to let his son get over his four paws again, looking at him then at the horizon. "You might be expecting a bit too much of this place."

"Of course, and we could even live there some day!" Zale opined.

"No, Zale." Kovu replied. "That's not our place."

"What's our place, then?" Zale inquired.

Kovu sighed. "Our place is our Kingdom, son." He began to adopt a serious tone. "We can't let go, we can't renounce to our duty." He glared at them both. "Your duty."

"But, we could leave that to uncle Kion and aunt Rani, maybe our cousins can also come with us! Then we'll have no more resp…" Zale was interrupted.

"Zale." Kovu's deeper, firm voice made Zale and Keru to listen. He sighed and just kept walking. "There are things in life that you just can't turn your back on." He explained. "Things that are…part of you."

Keru lowered his head, thinking about the words of his father. "I don't understand, daddy."

"You don't have to, my son." Kovu approached him and stroked him with his head. "You are very young." He then did the same with Zale, who was also confused with what Kovu had said. "This is not the time to think in such things." He was walking between them, they were all looking frontwards at the land illuminated by the morning's sun. "For now, all you have to do is to enjoy this day, okay?" He looked at them with a smile.

Zale glared at him after a brief moment. "Okay, dad." He smirked at him, same as Keru.


	3. Episode 3: Power

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 3: Power

Kion had woken up, he was sitting at the edge of the Pride Rock, feeling the cold wind of the morning stroking his face and moving his mane, the peaceful land before his eyes made him proud, but that feeling encountered with one of regret, a feeling subtle enough to be overlooked.

His two cubs, Emba and Ari, met with him and sat down next to his sides. "Where's mom?" Ari asked, she was the youngest of the two, her fur was brown colored like her mother's.

Kion kept glancing frontwards. "Hunting." His attention was lost on the silence and the flat view.

"Dad." Emba expressed, the oldest, golden furred, with an early red tuft similar as his father's on his early years. "We are ready."

Kion stood immerse on his thoughts. "Okay, son."

Emba raised an eyebrow. "Dad?" He got closer to him and patted his arm. "Dad!"

Kion gasped and looked at his son, shaking his head a bit. "Oh, yes…" He looked at them both. "The…" Kion chuckled, having remembered what his children were talking about. "The roar, isn't it?"

Ari smirked back at him. "Yeah, and I have practiced a lot!" She also placed a paw on his arm. "I know you'll be impressed!"

"Calm down, Ari, there's no way you can beat me!" Emba approached her and tackled her with no warning, keeping her on the ground with his front paws.

"Emba!...get off me!" Ari struggled to move her brother away.

"If you want to be free, then fight for it!" Emba challenged her more by crouching, making it more difficult for Ari to move. Kion just watched them, cautiously.

"Emba…!" Ari bit his leg, making him to groan and growl, he immediately backed away from her, Ari then stood up, frowning at him.

Emba licked his wounded leg, a bit of blood was coming out from the injure. He growled at his sister then looked at his father. "Dad, look what she did!" He approached him and raised his leg before him to show him the wound.

Kion growled at his son with a frown of warning and scold, making him to sit down and lower his head. "You asked for it, Emba." He walked towards his daughter and reassured her, stroking her with his lower jaw. "Strength isn't a ruler's only resource." He looked back at Emba. "A ruler must be intelligent, slick." He smirked at Ari. "She was just smarter than you, Emba."

"But I was just playing." Emba argued.

"Game or not, you started it, son." Kion sat down between them again, recurrently looking at them both. "Face the consequences of your acts." He looked at Emba attentively, who lowered down his gaze when seeing his father's eyes. Kion turned to look at Ari. "This goes for you too, Ari." He glared at the horizon, letting out a sigh. "A king, a queen, any leader must live with the decisions he has made and confront them." He glanced back at Emba. "With bravery, Emba. You can cry to your mom or to me when something goes wrong, but what will happen when neither of us are here?"

Emba kept his gaze on the ground. "Sorry."

Kion locked his gaze on him for a moment then also stroked him. "Don't worry, we had something else to do, right?"

Ari got closer to her father. "Yes! The roar!"

Kion chuckled and turned to go down the Pride Rock. "What are we waiting for, then?"

The place where Kion was taking his cubs to was not too far from the Pride Rock, they arrived quite quickly to the rocky, grass covered cliff that faced several more miles of savanna, a large river passed by the cliff's foot.

Emba sat down at the edge of the cliff, looking down with amusement by it's great height. "Woah!" His eyes widened and the echo of his voice repeated several times. He looked at his father. "I'm ready, dad, look!" He took a deep breath and just before he could try to let out a roar, Kion carried him with his jaws and dropped him next to his sister, away from the edge.

"Patience, Emba." Kion said. "You still have to hear mine." He smiled and looked behind. "Then you'll find yours."

"But I've heard you many times, dad, I know how it works." Emba argued.

Kion got close to the edge and with no warning, he let out a noisy, frightening roar that sounded at every single corner of the Pride Lands and beyond, Emba and Ari backed away a bit, lowering their heads instinctively, hearing their father's powerful roar. After a couple of seconds, Kion stopped roaring. The echo of his roar persisted after so. He turned to look at his children then approached them, smirking a bit cockily. "That is a roar, Emba."

Emba trembled, same as his sister. "O…okay." He chuckled with doubt. "Maybe, I could…use some advice."

Kion laughed. "It's not hard, son." He got behind them and pushed them both with his forehead. "Come on." That way he brought them both to the edge of the cliff.

"So…We just do it, or what?" Ari glared at Kion with question.

Kion sat down next to them. "Wait, Ari." He began to think about the words he was about to say, carefully choosing them. "I also went through this, children of mine, so my father and his father, Mufasa's father also roared for a first time and so on. The roar is a powerful symbol." He looked at his cubs. "One that requires responsibility."

"A symbol?" Emba inquired.

"It represents our leadership, our lineage." Kion looked up. "Our duty." He took a deep breath then exhaled calmly. "And now is your turn to protect that symbol." He gave them a serious look. "You understand?" Ari and Emba just nodded at his question then Kion returned the gesture and walked some steps away from his two cubs, sitting down behind them. "Now."

Emba breathed in then let out his first try, which sounded like a soft, angry growl. "Uhm…"

Kion chuckled and sighed. "Think first, Emba. We have all day to do this." He glanced his daughter. "You too, Ari. Remember my roar, then think about yours."

Ari took the chance to follow her father's advice. She closed her eyes and relived the strength and the power of Kion's roar, also imagining Simba and Mufasa roaring at a mountain's top. She opened her eyes and with a confident look she took a deep breath and held it for a moment, then she finally let out the roar, an intense noise of authority and strength that, albeit not as imposing as Kion's, it certainly was good enough for a cub like Ari. She stopped roaring and smiled after hearing the echo of her roar. She turned to look at her father. "How was it, dad?! Did I pass?!"

Kion let out a proud laugh. "You did, Ari." He got into his paws and stroked her forehead. "You've found it." Emba lowered his head with shame then Kion looked at him. "Emba, try again."

Emba was disappointed. "Maybe tomorrow, dad. I don't think I'm ready." His sister's roar had left him astonished.

Kion shook his head. "We won't leave until you do it, son." He approached him and reassured him with a stroke, rubbing his lower jaw with his head. "You can do it, Emba. I know you can."

Ari felt sorry for him. She walked towards him and gave him a smile of support. "If I can, then you can."

Emba thought for a moment then looked at her with a smirk. "You think so?"

Kion chuckled. "We know, son."

Emba nodded at them then got over his paws, adopting a straight position, getting his claws over the grass and looking frontwards, he frowned and took a deep breath, holding it for a long moment, afraid of failing again. Emba looked at Kion, who nodded confidently at him, then he glared at Ari, who retained her supportive look, also giving her brother a warm nod. Emba turned his gaze at the large horizon before them, and when not being able to hold his breath anymore, he roared potently, fiercely and with a constant tone of power and force, making Kion to hear proudly along with Ari. His roar lasted considerably more than his sister's, and the echo faded away slowly.

Emba was sighing, satisfied with the results of his effort, he turned around and ran towards Kion, jumping at him, pushing him with his paws. "Did you hear it?!" He looked at his sister. "Did you? Ari?!"

Kion had dropped himself to the ground, playfully chuckling with his son, who laid over his chest. "Who couldn't have heard that?" He turned and with that made Emba to lay over his back, Kion let out another laugh of pride and rubbed his forehead on his son's. "See?" He gestured at his daughter, who approached him and rested her head on his leg, then Emba got into his paws. "There is it, my children." He glanced away with hope, happiness and old, familiar emotions. "Your roar." He looked back at his cubs, smiling at them with eyes of care. "Our roar."


	4. Episode 4: Lurch

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 4: Lurch

The small family of antelopes grazed in peace under the cover of the trees, which made the sun's heat more bearable, even enjoyable, and added to the satiation brought by the vast grass, the four antelopes were having a pleasant time, with no more noise than their biting and walking.

But every moment comes to an end, the ear of the male twitched same as his mate's, his two children also listened the subtle yet alarming sound, one of a wanderer. "What was that?" One of the antelopes said, the youngest son of the family.

The male antelope let out a sigh of fear. "Run…" He looked at his children and his wife. "Oontu, Yagu, run!" He began to rush with desperation towards the horizon, leaded by his children and his mate. "We must split, Jazei, we m..!" He screamed with great fear when Kiara jumped over him with not a minimal warning, killing him fast with strong bites, then she followed Rani, who was chasing the female antelope. The two children decided to hid between the tall grass, the mother kept running, looking at her sides, desperate by not finding them, before she could even try to exclaim their names, Rani jumped at her and bit her neck, bringing her down and killing her with a concluding, powerful bite.

The two little calfs trembled with no cease after hearing their parent's demise, crying softly and with no hope, they closed their eyes and heard a paralyzing roar behind them, which was the last thing they ever heard.

On their way back to the Pride Rock, Rani dragged the mother with her closed jaws, she had laid one of the children over the side of the antelope. Kiara was doing the same with the father, also having put the other child over him. It took them a while to take their meal and their family's to the Pride Rock, but they finally managed to bring the four dead antelopes to the cave's inside.

"I wonder when they'll come back." Kiara took a bite of the antelope she shared with Rani. "I'm not saving them any leftovers if they delay."

Rani finished munching the piece she was eating, chuckling by Kiara's statement. "I quite like they took a day off, it's good for Kion."

Kiara let out a subtle laugh. "Sure it is. Seeing my brother happy is rare these days." She munched the antelope.

Rani sighed. "You are so right." She took another bite, eating it quickly. "Sometimes I see him awake at midnight, just there." She looked at Kiara. "Thinking, remembering…I can't tell."

Kiara glanced at her. "Haven't you two talked about it?"

Rani shook her head. "No, he is not of those."

"Those who what?" Kiara inquired.

"Those who, well, express their feelings." Rani lowered her head. "At least not with me."

"He just wants to look brave. But I know he does it for you." Kiara tried to reassure her. "Kovu isn't that different, if you ask me." Her comparison made Rani to look at her eyes again. "Kovu has nightmares, very often." She sighed. "But he always tells me he is fine." She thought for a moment. "I can see his suffering, he moves and gasps, sometimes he speaks."

"What does he say?" Rani asked.

Kiara chuckled with subtleness. "Almost always, he pleads for mercy." She got a straight look of worry. "He feels…hated." Kiara's gaze was lost on the antelope's blood covered fur. "He repeats the same name over and over again." She sighed. "Scar, he says."

Rani looked up, focusing on the cave's rocky inside. "I hope our children can live free of those burdens, whatever they may be." Rani bit the antelope.

"They will, Rani." Kiara reassured. "Your children are strong. And I know mine are as well, so, what do we have to worry about?"

Rani let out a sigh and nodded insecurely. "I hope you are right." A tear fell from the corner of her eye, mixing with a drop of blood over the rocky ground.

Kiara noticed the sadness she started to deal with. "Rani, joy." She advised, smirking at her, even if she wasn't looking. "You love them."

Rani slowly looked at her. "Of course I do." Her voice was broken. "I'm…" She breathed in. "…I'm scared, Kiara." She sobbed deeply.

"Oh, Rani." Kiara got closer to her. "Don't fall into that trap." Rani cried softly but with great anguish. "It impedes you to see the beauty of your life. Your children are growing up, their voices have changed, their claws have sharpened as well as their fangs." Kiara exhaled with hope. "But their hearts will grow more greatly, Rani. That should give you peace." She kept glaring at her. "Not only your children, but Kion too. No matter how strong or big he may be now. I still see him, my little, reckless, rightful brother. Just give him time."

Rani looked at her, her tears were flowing more slowly. "Time for what?"

Kiara smiled at her. "To heal." She glanced away, looking at the cave's entrance. "That's what my Kovu needs too." The two lionesses finished eating after a few, silent minutes. Rani walked towards the cave's exit. "Where are you going?" Kiara asked, laying over the ground, about to take a long, post-meal nap.

"I just need some air." Rani breathed in and out slowly. "That's all." She made up a smile then turned and resumed her steps.

Rani walked under the imposing light of the sun, lost inside her thoughts, reflecting on Kion and herself, the family they were and the things they had gone through together, she smiled when remembering the day she found out she was expecting, the light that Kion's eyes showed when she gave him the news was one that she would never forget, pure bliss and gratitude, the same thing happened when she told him about Ari, the joy in his voice and the words of love that came from his mouth remained intact in her memories.


	5. Episode 5: Contrast

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 5: Contrast

Kovu and his children entered a rocky, humid and cold cavern that was adorned with large spots of moss. Thick grass came from cracks on the ground. The place was lighted by an unknown species of fireflies, the blue light they irradiated illuminated the cavern dimly. Kovu smiled as he always did when walking through that peaceful path, his children had looks of fascination, their eyes were widely open, studying each corner of the cave while walking calmly, getting delight from the insects' lights, amazed with a green they had never seen before in their young lives. "Dad…" Keru said. "This place is amazing." The echo of the cavern was enough to let the cub's soft voice be heard by his father.

Kovu chuckled a bit. "And this is just the entrance, son." He looked over his back and glared at his two cubs. "Wait until you see the real deal."

Keru and Zale looked into their widened eyes. "The real deal!" They both expressed, mumbling, yet with excitement.

After a few more steps over the cold rocky ground, a light began to show from the aperture that was still a couple more minutes ahead of them. "We're almost there, sons." Kovu said, his sons' faces showed happiness and amazement, triggered by the intensity of the white, dazzling light.

The plants, rocks, walls and vines started to reveal to the three lions, until the light merged with the landscape, they had finally arrived at the Ungari Waterfalls, an internal oasis on the mountain's inside, the sunlight entering through a skylight, located several meters above the pool that was permanently fed by the four waterfalls, which flowed rapidly from each corner of the place. A set of vegetation covered tunnels with natural windows and paths that led directly to the waterfalls' hard rocks were all around the place. Inner, rocky hills were connected to these tunnels and went down all the way to the pool.

Zale let out a brief laugh of bliss, a tear traveled over the fur of his face, Keru had the same glance of peace and joy. "It's…very beautiful." Zale expressed with a lump in his throat.

Kovu wasn't admiring the scene before them, he was looking at his offspring instead, smiling and enjoying their reactions, priceless, richly valuable for him. Keru approached him and placed his paws on his then looked at him. "Can we explore, daddy?"

Kovu laughed. "Of course you can, Keru. This is all yours." He stroked him with his forehead. "Go."

"Come on, Zale!" Keru looked at his brother and started to run towards the first tunnel he spotted. "I dare you to a race!" His voice echoed harmonically with the place's inside.

"Hey! Wait 'till I..!" Zale went after him, following him quickly. "Keru, that's not fair!" He entered the green tunnel, chasing his little brother.

Kovu let out a sigh of calmness, then he went down the pair of rocks that led to the brief path towards the tunnel his sons had entered then he also got inside. He looked at the plants on the tunnel's inner surface, the occasional vivid colored flowers that accompanied the ceiling's vegetation, he looked rightwards and glanced at the two waterfalls that could be seen from the natural window. Kovu kept walking through the large tunnel, glaring at all of its corners, he then hurried his steps to encounter with his sons again.

Zale approached Keru, they both laughed and ran over the narrow rocky path that was attached to the mountain, having exited the tunnel a while ago. Despite the race's rapidness, they were still careful with their turns and steps as the rocky paths they took weren't wide enough, their paws constantly slipped by the tiny rocks between the grass over the golden rock.

When Zale tried to pass by his brother, the space wasn't enough for them to stay over at the same time, so Keru fell down from the path and yelled all the way down towards the pool, he dived in the huge water body. Kovu had exited the tunnel, he was laying over a little cliff that faced the pool, he had seen the little incident but knew his son was alright and let out a brief laugh when Keru got his head out of the water, inhaling and floating with the help of his paws, which he moved repeatedly.

Zale laughed at his brother. "Oh, Keru! Are you okay?" He kept laughing.

"So funny, Zale! Get here right know if you are so…" Keru gasped when his brother decided to jump into the water, with his paws aiming at him. Zale purposely fell over his brother, sinking them both into the water. After a few seconds, they got their heads out of the water again. Zale and Keru breathed in and out a couple of times. Keru frowned at his brother while cleaning some water off his eyes with his paw. "Zale, you hit me!"

Zale laughed again. "Water fight!" He splashed some water at Keru by hitting the water with both of his paws.

"Zale!" Keru did the same with his paw, throwing water at his brother's face. Zale counter attacked, and so on. Keru's brief anger then turned back into a playful yet competitive joy.

Kovu smiled at what he was seeing, something he never experienced and would never have the chance to, a beautiful day of fun and games, his childhood was distant from those concepts.

"_Fight! Kovu!" Scar yelled at the young cub, s__ubdued __by Laka, a bit older and stronger than him, __pale golden__ furred, one of the strongest cubs of the __O__utlands, Scar had picked him to battle with Kovu, to test the abilities of his Chosen One._

_Kovu was getting asphyxiated by the paws of Laka, who was pressing his throat tightly against the red ground. A circle of fire surrounded the two cubs. "I can see it, Chosen One, I'll be the successor!" He was hurting Kovu's neck with his claws._

_Scar growled. "Fight! Kovu!" He insisted._

"_Yes, Kovu…fight, fight little, miserable Kovu." Laka laughed at him with mockery, Kovu was choking and moving his front legs with desperation._

_Laka looked into his dying eyes. "Oh, you're so funny. You really think you can h..." Without previous warning, Kovu __gave him a blow__ right on the eye, scratching it permanently, Laka groaned intensely and backed away from Kovu, laying down while crying and covering his eye, rubbing it while gasping strongly._

_Kovu took several deep breaths while standing up slowly, getting into his four paws. Scar smiled and roared beastly against the circle of fire, extinguishing the flames in a blink. He walked towards Kovu and chuckled with pride, stroking his head with his. "Well done, Kovu." He chuckled again and looked at Laka, who still suffered greatly. "Well done." His face turned to a straight one while he walked towards Laka_

"_S…sorry…my king." Laka sobbed, still rubbing his hurt eye._

"_Such a disgrace." Scar lifted Laka's face with his paw, forcing him to look into his eyes. He glared at his damaged eye, bleeding and totally scratched. "Such a shame, Laka."_

_Laka sobbed. "I…I'm sorry." He repeated._

"_No, Laka…" Scar scratched his other eye with his claws, making Laka to scream with pain and fall to the ground, laying there while covering his two eyes. "This had to happen."_

_Laka let out a fierce growl of pain. "Why?!" He lifted his head the best he could and opened his eyes slowly, noticing he was completely blind. "I can't see!" He looked back at Scar. "Why?!" He frowned at him, tears and blood came from his eyes._

_Scar remained with a straight face. "Kovu is my Chosen One, Laka. Not you, not anyone, but him." He crouched and growled at him. "And no one can't stop him. I am the king of the Pride Lands, of the Outlands and everything beyond them." He glared at Kovu, who trembled and looked at them terrified. Scar looked back at Laka. "And Kovu will reign after I'm gone." He approached his __back.__ "Not Laka." He chuckled. "Laka is no more than a memory!" Scar grasped Laka with his jaws and ran towards the cliff that was ahead._

"_No, no! My king, please forgive me! Forgive me!" Laka cried out, knowing what Scar was about to do._

_Kovu gasped and ran rapidly towards them, breathing in and out in coordination with the quick steps of his paws, wanting to reach Scar and Laka. Scar released Laka right when reaching the cliffside, Laka's scream was heard in every corner of the __O__utlands, then all that could be heard was silence. Kovu arrived and stopped running, getting right next to Scar, looking at him and the abyss below the cliff, with tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Scar glanced at the darkness of the Abyss for a long moment, then he turned and started to walk away from Kovu. "Rest, Kovu. You deserve it." He left Kovu alone, looking at the abyss, sad yet confused, still feeling victorious, but with a bitter mix of feelings inside him._

Kovu returned to the present, his cubs still played in the water. He found out it wasn't too late to live the life he should, so he ran towards the edge of the cliff and jumped into the water, falling next to his sons, splashing lots of water and getting his head out of it while shaking his mane to take out the excess of water, his cubs approached him and threw water at him then he laughed and dived a bit then when his sons where over his back he swam upwards and got half of his body out of the water, provoking the laughs of his children as he was now swimming with them laying over him, as if he was a trunk floating in a river.


	6. Episode 6: Enmity

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 6: Enmity

The sunset's dying light entered the Pride Rock's cave while the four monarchs and their children enjoyed their meal, the antelopes that Rani and Kiara had hunted. "Thanks, love." Kovu told Kiara after eating a bite of the antelope he shared with his cubs. "I was starving."

"Well, if you hadn't been all day there…" Kiara stated jokingly, she was laying over a rock next to Rani, as they had already eaten.

"But it was amazing!" Keru said with his mouth full.

"Keru…" Kiara scolded. "What have I t…"

"Oh…" Keru munched well the bite of meat he was eating then he swallowed it. "Yes, sorry." Kiara gestured at him, letting him know he could now proceed. "It was very amazing! There was water, and plants and tunnels!"

"It's a paradise, mom!" Zale added.

Kiara chuckled. "It seems you three really had a good day."

"The greatest of all!" Keru opined.

Kiara let out another calm laugh, then she looked at her brother, who was also eating with his children. "What about you, Kion? How was your day with the kids?"

"Oh, we learned to roar like my dad!" Emba responded for his father.

Kion chuckled. "And you did very well, son." He stroked him with his lower jaw.

Rani smiled. "Really?" She raised an eyebrow. "Like your dad?"

Ari tilted her head a bit, rolling her eyes slightly. "Well, maybe not exactly like him but…uhm…close."

Kion chuckled and also stroked her. "Yes, not like me." He looked at her eyes. "You did better." He smirked.

Ari's look widened, with a growing smirk. "Really? Better?" Kion just nodded at her question.

Emba approached his father. "And I? Did I do better? Not that I'm jealous or something just…" Kion placed his forehead on his.

"Son, you two have the most powerful roars I've ever heard." Kion responded. "Believe it or not."

Emba lowered his gaze briefly then smiled and looked back at his father, resting his head on his chest. Rani was very happy to see her family that way, just enjoying, spending a time with no worries.

The night had arrived, the cubs had gone to sleep and the four monarchs were walking through the savanna among other lions and lionesses, with vigilant glares, some mumbling could be heard between them. "My king, I swear I saw them wandering by the river, they're not respecting the bounds." A lioness said.

Kion sighed. "That's the problem with the hyenas." He shook his head. "They don't respect anything."

"Not only hyenas, your highness." A lion walked between the others to get a bit closer to Kion. "Yesterday I saw a cheetah hunting near the Cereki Hills, I know he wasn't from around."

"And what did you do, then?" Kion asked.

"I…I tried to chase him but he was just too fast." The lion answered. "But I managed to see where he was heading to."

"I hear you." Kion said.

"Ferezan, my king." The lion responded, making Kion to stop walking all of a sudden, lowering his gaze a bit.

Rani approached him. "Kion." She knew what was troubling him.

Kion remained thoughtful for a moment then nodded and glared at his pride. "As these reports say, our land is being invaded by those who are not meant to return." He looked at Kiara. "Kiara, you'll lead the group to deal with the hyenas." Kion glared at Rani. "You are going with her." Lastly, he glanced at Kovu. "You and I will talk with the cheetahs." He wanted to avoid Kovu going to hostile missions as he had been the only one who voted against the exile in the first place. "Half of you will go with our mates, the other must go with us to Ferezan." The group of lions bowed their heads before the four monarchs, expressing their acceptance. Kion nodded at them. "It's agreed, then. We leave at first hour."

In their way back home, Rani approached Kion. "Do you think this is a good idea?"

Kion thought for a moment. "It's the best I can think off."

"Maybe, we…" Rani glared at her side. "We could just let them go with this one."

Kion looked at her with a straight face. "No, Rani. I'm never doing that."

Rani sighed. "Kion, are you really looking for confrontation?"

"Of course not, is the last of things I want." Kion responded. "But if we have to battle with the renegades, so be it."

"Renegades? That's what we are calling them now?" Rani inquired, backing away abruptly by Kion's sudden growl. The lions behind them also backed away instinctively.

Kion sighed. "I only want one thing, Rani." He looked at his mate with apologizing eyes. "To keep our land safe, the land of my father and his father, that's all I want, you understand? I want it to be a home, a true home for our children." He approached her and stroked her with his forehead. "Don't you want that?"

Rani sighed. "I do."

Below the Pride Rock, Kion was giving the last indications to the lions. "Be careful with the hyenas, don't give them the slightest chance to group, once you see one, attack, and repeat, you understand?" Kion's words made the lions to roar with commitment. Kion roared beastly after so and the lions returned to their respective refuges.

Emba woke up with a gasp by the intense noise of his father's roar, he smirked when seeing him entering the cave along with Rani. "Dad." Emba tried to speak softly as his sister and cousins were still sleeping. He ran rapidly towards his father. "Hey, where did you go?" Emba inquired with curiosity.

"Nowhere interesting, son." Kion subtly smirked at him and stroked him. "Just some royal affairs."

"What are those?" Emba tilted his head and followed his father.

Kion yawned and laid down next to his daughter, Emba approached him and also laid next to him. "Sleep Emba." He let out another yawn. "Just get some sleep."

Rani approached them and laid down by her mate, resting her head over his neck. Emba walked towards her. "Mom, where did you go?" He insisted.

Rani sighed. "Some things I can't explain, son." She started to close her eyes, beginning to fall asleep quickly. "I can't…" She yawned deeply. "…explain."

Emba lowered his head, disappointed as he wanted to know about the matter. He noticed that Kovu couldn't sleep, he was laying next to Kiara, looking frontwards, with a straight face. Emba then took some careful steps towards his uncle. "Uncle Kovu." He sat down next to him. "What's going on?"

Kovu shook his head and stood silent for a moment then glanced at Emba. "You really want to know?"

"Of course." Emba answered. "I heard my dad's roar, that means he said something important, doesn't it?"

Kovu chuckled. "Technically." He glared upwards then let out a sigh and lowered his head. "If you think war is important."

Emba gasped. "War?"

Kovu's eyes widened, as he had thought out loud. He looked at Emba and made up a chuckle. "Sorry, Emba, I'm…" He pretended to yawn. "…exhausted." He laid down and closed his eyes. "Forget what I said."


	7. Episode 7: Dichotomy

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 7: Dichotomy

In the rising sun, the roar of Kion started the mission, the pride ran with determination, heading to the Pride Land's boundaries. Emba was following them from afar to prevent his father from seeing him, the grass was still tall compared to his height so he easily managed to stay covered while chasing the group. Kion, Kovu, Rani and Kiara leaded the horde, they passed by the last trees of the Kingdom, jumping the border with ease, which was a little river that crossed the entire land. The group split in two, one leaded by Kion and Kovu and the other by Rani and Kiara, taking opposite paths.

Emba ran rapidly towards the river and tried to get to the other side with a jump, but it wasn't enough so he gasped and held from the rocky, muddy end with his paws. He let out a gasp of effort and tried to bring himself up. He glared down at the running water then glanced back upwards, frowning and inserting his claws on the mud, that helped him to get a better hold so he took a deep breath and with a growl he managed to finally get safely on the other side, continuing his path, trying to run faster as he had almost lost his sight on the two groups. He suddenly stopped running to choose which group to follow. He decided to go after Kion's, so he turned a bit rightwards and started to run that way.

Kiara and Rani ran together while the other lions followed their fast steps. The canyons and gorges of the Outlands started to show up, waking the lions' caution, they looked at their surroundings, unable to find any hyenas at the moment. The group was finally running on the dark gray rock of the canyon, having entered the Outlands, they reached a dead end and went down a rocky, unstable path that led to the gorges. After some slips and gasps the horde of lions entered the gorge, keeping the rhythm of their rush. They looked at every crack and level at their sides, managing to see some hyenas running on the narrow paths of the parallel rocky walls. "Ready?!" Kiara shouted and roared beastly, the echo of her battle cry echoed through all the cracks and passages of the place, the lions roared back and that made several groups of hyenas to come out from their hideouts and run towards them, laughing with hostility, approaching them from behind and from ahead, also covering the sides.

"Attack!" Rani commanded, being the first to jump at a hyena and bite his neck, moving her head to the side, letting go the dead hyena. With roars of battle, Kiara and the rest of the lions joined Rani and started to attack the hyenas, throwing blows and bites at them, same as their adversaries, the beginning of an intense battle.

Meanwhile, Kion, Kovu and their group were approaching Ferezan, the cheetahs' territory, which was vast in tall trees and robust bushes, the green combined with the gray of the small, rocky caverns. Kion and Kovu slowed down, so the rest, starting to just walk over the tall grass between the unending rows of trees, getting looks of doubt from the cheetahs that were seeing them from the trunks of the trees and the top of the caverns. Kion glanced at each one of them, with an unwanted hope of seeing the one who had been his friend and comrade for years, lowering his head when realizing the time and place where they now were.

"Kion." Kovu noticed he was getting thoughtful.

Kion kept thinking about his childhood, his adolescence and part of his adulthood, remembering, reliving the days when he fought in the Lion Guard, at the side of her. He sighed and looked at the front, rushing his step slightly. "Keep moving." He said.

A trail of rocks received them, so they kept walking and followed its path. From the top of a great cavern, Azaad, king of Ferezan, spotted the group of lions and immediately recognized Kion, he growled and turned, going down the rock with agile jumps, falling over the dry leaves that adorned the cavern's outside, surrounding it to head to Kion.

Kion's ear twitched, with a gasp he looked at his group. "Stay calm, this ain't a hosti…" He groaned when Azaad jumped aggressively at him and brought him down with his paws, chirruping at him menacingly.

"You are not welcome at Ferezan!" Azaad frowned at Kovu and the others. "Lions…" He looked back at Kion and growled at him, opening his jaws, aiming at his neck, but before he could throw an attack, another cheetah jumped at him, pushing him, sending him to the ground. The intervening cheetah then let Kion to get into his paws and approached Azaad.

"Azaad!" The female cheetah helped him to stand up, pushing his neck gently with her head, giving him a glare of caution. "They've come in peace." She turned and looked at Kion. "Haven't you?" There was a nostalgic tone in her voice.

Kion had his gaze locked on her eyes. "Fuli." They shared the same look of memories and feelings of empathy and antique friendship.

"Kion." Fuli tried to approach him but Azaad got in her way, looking at him with a straight face.

"What matters you seek here at Ferezan, lions?" Azaad looked at Kion's group.

"We…" Kion was still stunned by the remembrance he was dealing with and the shadow of the present that covered it. "We want to talk." He sighed and looked away. "That's all."

Fuli walked by Azaad and gave him a look of warning, signal he understood, knowing she wanted to take care of whatever matter the lions wanted to discuss. She sat down in front of them and gestured at the cave's entrance. "Pride landers." She glanced at Kion and Kovu. "Follow me." She started to walk towards the dark entrance followed by the lions, leaded by the two kings. When all of the lions entered the cave, Azaad entered after them, frowning and with a distrustful glare.

Paths of fire illuminated the sides of the brief rocky hallway they were walking through, an orange light at the end of the hallway showed up and then revealed to be a big fire in the middle of the tall, rocky room. Fuli guided the lions to a corner of the cave, sitting down before them, she gestured at them and with that made them to sit down as well. Azaad approached the group and sat down next to his mate, still gazing at the lions with a not so subtle hostility. Fuli looked at them for a long moment, then she glanced at Kion. "Speak."

"Fuli, I want to m…" Kion was interrupted.

"Speak properly to the Queen of Ferezan!" Azaad exclaimed.

Fuli sighed with frustration. "Azaad." Fuli growled at him. "I'll tolerate that manner this time."

Azaad stood silent for a moment, then he frowned slightly and looked at Kion. "Proceed."

"Thanks." Kion said with a bit of sarcasm, upset. He glanced back at Fuli. "I want to make something clear. We don't want any trouble, not with you, not with anyone." He gave Azaad a brief glare. "Understand?"

Fuli nodded. "We do."

"Good." Kion felt a bit odd when looking at her, so he chose to glance at several spots while explaining himself. "We've been informed about wanderers on our land." He wanted to choose his words well. "We think one of them might have been from, well…around here."

"You say we are intruders, don't you?" Azaad inquired.

"No, king of Ferezan." Kion wanted to show some respect to reduce the tension. "Our kingdoms have established barriers, we have respected Ferezan, we are only asking you to respect our land."

"And who established those barriers, Kion?" Azaad took a step forward.

"You, actually." Kion lifted his head a bit, not showing fear or intimidation to Azaad. "We only made a decree."

"The decision of four animals is not a rule for ou…" Azaad was interrupted by Fuli.

"We respected the word of the Council of Kings back on the Pride Lands." Fuli received a glare of anger from Azaad. "But still, Ferezan has become a free nation, and everyone here has permission to leave and come at any time."

"And I understand it." Kion replied. "But we also have our law, and no exiled is allowed to enter the Pride Lands without permission."

Azaad growled at Kion, approaching him menacingly, Kovu and the lions behind him growled defensively and also adopted hostile positions. Fuli rapidly got between them and tried to calm them down. "No agreement will be done with a fight." Fuli warned, glancing at Azaad. "I need a word with Kion."

Azaad looked at her then again at Kion, still frowning at him. "That's why we're here. Go ahead."

"Azaad." Fuli mumbled at her mate and got closer to him. "Let me talk to him alone. For our kingdom. For us." She stroked him with her forehead. "Let me." She looked into his eyes. Azaad still frowned with disapproval, he glanced a couple of times at the expecting lions. With a final glare, he sighed and began to walk towards Kion's group, getting before them and gesturing at the cave's exit, forcing the lions to follow him to the outside, with Kovu among them.

When finally being alone with Fuli in the cave, Kion switched his gaze from the exit to her, he approached her and sat down. "You two have built something worthy here, and I have no desire to end it. I need you to understand that." He peeked at the rocky corners of the cave. "Ferezan is strong." He looked back at Fuli. "Just as its queen."

"Not that strong, Kion." Fuli lowered her gaze a bit. "My kingdom lacks of resources." She finally decided to also sit down, sighing and looking at him. "We have no other choice, Kion. Ferezan can't respect your barriers, at least not for now."

Kion kept a straight face. "Of course." He glared down a bit, thinking about the proposal he wanted to express. "Fuli." He glanced at the queen again. "What have you heard from the other kingdoms? There's been some, uhm, rumors…about…"

"War." Fuli completed. "Yes, I've heard many, from the Pride of Baturu."

Kion sighed, nodding as he had also heard about that. "Baturu…" The Pride of Batoru had rapidly acquired a fame of violence and conflict. He was thoughtful, still figuring out what words to choose to ask Fuli what his kingdom needed. He nodded at his own thinking and looked at her. "Fuli. As a member of the Council of Kings, I have the power to open our barriers to Ferezan."

Fuli's glare widened a bit, she let out a subtle gasp. "Would you do that for us?"

Kion looked away and got into his four paws, turning and sitting down again, with his back facing her. "Aid comes both ways."

"I'll talk with Azaad, our barriers will b…" Fuli was interrupted.

"Sorry, Fuli. But I'm no talking about bounds here." Kion looked at her. "We need troops."

Fuli raised an eyebrow. "Troops?"

Kion nodded, glancing back at the front, away from her look. "The Pride Lands is not a place of warriors anymore." He lowered his head a bit. "We won't survive the war without them."

Fuli glanced down, turning her thoughtful glare at her side, reflecting on Kion's proposal. "We do have warriors, Kion." She looked at him. "But they only serve one kingdom."

"Persuade them." Kion adopted a more straight tone of voice. "And I'll persuade my pride."

Fuli sighed and started to walk in circles, studying the option. The struggle of her kingdom was something impossible for her to ignore. Her decision came earlier than Kion had thought. "Ferezan's warriors will be at your service." She walked towards him.

Kion was still glancing away from her. "And the bounds of the Pride Lands won't exist for you nor your kingdom." He looked into her eyes. "Queen of Ferezan."

The memories made a powerful echo in their thought while looking into each other's eyes. Kion faced her, saying no word. He lowered his head along with her, they rested their foreheads against the other's, closing their eyes, hearing the cracking noise of the fire behind them, feeling the light of old friendship they thought was gone for good, a tear ran across Fuli's cheek, event that also occurred to Kion.


	8. Episode 8: Fury

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 8: Fury

Corpses of lions and hyenas began to cover the ground rapidly, the laughs of battle and pain mixed with the roars of fierceness and death, the hyenas let some of the lions to chase them, taking them to secret passages they only knew as outlanders, cornering them and rapidly jumping at them with their open jaws, throwing quick but strong bites, munching together to kill their enemies.

"Stay together!" Kiara noticed the hyenas' strategy, a pair of hyenas jumped at her, she growled at them both and threw a powerful blow at the first one, then she grasped the neck of the other with her jaws and brought her down, raising her head and roaring at her before biting her neck a couple of times to kill her.

Rani told another group of lions to form a circle around a horde of hyenas, the lions obeyed their queen and surrounded several enemies, the hyenas laughed with anger and fear, rushing at the lions nonetheless. Rani roared as a command, the lions mimicked her roar and ran fast towards the hyenas. Before the outlanders could even try to give a slight jump, Rani and the other lions brought them down with their claws aiming at their faces and their bite going for their sides and their necks. Their laughs of struggle and desperation vanished rapidly.

Some lions fought in group, others on their own, expecting the rivals or going after them. Kiara tried to remain confident on the strength of her pride, but more and more hyenas started to come from the cracks of the mountains, she looked around her, spotting more hidden eyes and hostile shapes lurking in the shadows, expecting orders. She rapidly looked at her sides and spotted Rani, running towards her.

Three hyenas laughed at Rani menacingly, walking around her cautiously to keep her trapped between them, she looked at their eyes with warning, frowning and growling constantly. All of a sudden, Kiara arrived and instantly killed one of the hyenas with a deadly bite, Rani took the chance to jump at a hyena and kill him with several rapid blows. Kiara dealt with the last one the same way.

Rani sighed with tiredness along with Kiara, she approached her and gestured at the battlefield. "There are far more outlanders than we thought." She opined, shaking her head. "We are not enough."

Kiara looked at the different scenes, some lions were successfully defeating the hyenas but the most young and inexpert members of the pride fell rapidly under the cynic bite of the laughing enemy. "We have to resist a bit more, Rani." She responded. "This is a message they must understand."

Meanwhile at Ferezan, Emba was running desperately under the green and dense vegetation of the place, looking over his back recurrently, gasping and turning several times to deceive his chasers, thing that worked only for a couple of minutes as the cheetahs were abysmally faster than him. He felt a quick but firm bite on his hind leg and let out a groan before falling over the ground with his paws pointing at the sky. He instantly tried to roll over his back to get into his paws but was suddenly stopped by the spotted paws that rested over his chest.

"Going somewhere?" The cheetah got his snout closer to his face. "Pridelander?" He was a cub as him.

Emba couldn't get free from the cheetah's hold, moving over the dirty ground. "I…I was just passing by…th…that's all." The other three cheetahs, who were also cubs, watched over him from the branches of a tree, thing that made Emba even more scared and nervous.

The cheetah growled at him. "This is our territory, you know?" He gestured at his comrades who rapidly went down the tree and got at his sides. "The Karu-Karu legion won't tolerate any intruders!" His comrades chirruped menacingly after his bold statement.

"Karu-Karu?" Emba inquired, still feeling in danger.

"The penalty for such behavior is…" The cheetah waited a bit to complete his phrase. "…death!"

Emba gasped and struggled to move. "Please, don't!" Emba's voice started to break. "I…I swear! I was j…"

The cheetah laughed. "You should've thought twice before invading my territory." His comrades glared at him with a subtle upset, the cheetah rolled up his eyes and glared at Emba again. "Alright…our territory." He emphasized on the second word, then gestured at his friends who began to chirrup at Emba again, approaching him menacingly.

"Let me go!" Emba yelled suddenly. "Please…let me go!" He struggled.

"Emba!" Kion's fierce, strong voice made the four cheetahs to look at him, terrified, rapidly taking a few steps away from his son.

"Dad…" Emba said with a mix of happiness and worry, getting into his paws and running towards his father, who roared at him forcefully, which stopped his rush. Emba gasped and sat down before his father, lowering his head with shame.

"What were you thinking?! Emba?!" Kion scolded. "Going here on your own! You could've gotten yourself killed, don't you understand that?!"

"Not by the paws of these, that's for sure." Fuli walked by them and approached the four cheetahs with a glare of authority.

Three of them lowered their glares when seeing Fuli's eyes of scold. "Sorry, my queen." They said at the same time then gave a final look at their friend, who had also his gaze on the ground. The three cheetahs then left in a moderated hurry.

"Faeze." Fuli said with a straight tone.

"Sorry, mom." Faeze looked at her slowly. "I was…playing."

"And what have I told you about those games of yours?" Fuli inquired, maintaining her face straight.

Faeze sighed, glaring at his side. "They're not good."

Fuli kept looking at him for a moment, then she gestured backwards. "We'll talk in the cave, son."

Faeze lowered his head. "Yes, mom." He began to walk towards the lions, stopping briefly next to Emba. "Sorry." He subtly smirked at him as a sign of apologize then lowered his gaze again and kept walking, getting lost on Ferezan's vegetation.

Kion was still looking at his son, upset and disappointed. "What were you thinking, Emba?"

"I…I didn't want anything bad to happen to you." Emba looked at his father's eyes. "I didn't want to loose you." Tears were forming on the corners of his eyes.

Kion's glance instantly went more calm and compassionate. "Emba, what made you fear such thing?"

"Unc…" Emba looked at Kovu, reflecting on his upcoming reply for a moment. He glanced back at his father. "Uncle Kovu told me you were going to war."

Kion frowned subtly. "Oh, did he?" He looked at Kovu.

"Emba, I didn't say that. It just escaped from my mouth, that's all." Kovu tried to approach them both but Kion warned him with a menacing glare, accompanied by an unfriendly growl. When Kovu returned to his previous spot, Kion looked back at his son. "Your uncle and I will discuss this later." He looked at Kovu then at the rest of the lions, gesturing frontwards, making them to move and follow him.

"Kion." Fuli said.

Kion stopped walking and glanced at her over his back, she nodded at him with confidence, gesture he returned with determination, turning his glance back to the front and resuming his steps. His son was at his side, glancing down.


	9. Episode 9: Promise

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 9: Promise

The battle in the Outlands was coming to an end, hyenas kept appearing from every unexpected corner, every crack around Kiara, Rani and their far smaller group, already diminished by the abysmal advantage the hyenas had achieved, the number of lions at the battlefield could be easily counted, contrary to the vast hordes of hyenas that were battling them. Kiara was anguished, seeing dead lions everywhere she looked, knowing the battle had been lost. "Lions!" Kiara screamed loudly, roaring after the call. "Retreat!"

Rani fought with five hyenas on her own, evading their bites and jumps, biting their sides with precision, she could manage for a while, but two of the hyenas reached for her and bit her side, near her front leg, Rani moved quickly by the pain, unable to get her skin off their teeth, screaming as a plead for help, two lions arrived to aid her, jumping at the hyenas with a roar, tackling them, freeing Rani from their powerful bites, laughs of struggle were heard before the fatal bites of the lions, who didn't hesitate to attack the other three hyenas.

"Run, my queen!" One of the lions said while throwing blows at the hyenas.

Rani was getting into her paws, effortfully as she was gravely injured, blood was dripping from her wound continuously, which hurt her even more at each step she took. "Kiara!" Rani exclaimed, trying to get her attention as she was between the group of lions that was left, getting surrounded by more hostile hordes of hyenas, who didn't let them retire. "Kia…" Rani suddenly fell to the ground, breathing brokenly, groaning by the intense pain she was feeling. She closed her eyes and only felt that someone carried her before getting completely unconscious.

Kiara growled at the menacing hordes along with the remaining lions and lionesses, the lions that had helped Rani had perished under the claws of the hyenas. "Today, the lineage of Simba loses her first born, a punishment, for the ones who abandoned us!" Jazanu, captain of the Outland's main legions, said.

The laughing of the enemy increased after their captain's statement, making the lions to adopt more defensive positions, growling and locking their eyes on theirs. A powerful, strong laugh was heard from afar. The laughs stopped simultaneously. Kiara raised an eyebrow, sharing the same look of confusion with what was left of her group. The lines of hyenas separated to open the way to their queen, who walked with authority and determination while carrying Rani on her back. After a long moment of expectation, the queen of the Outlands arrived where Kiara and her group was, crouching a bit to let Rani slip down to the ground gently. Kiara gasped and approached her, seeing she was still breathing, also noticing her wound, she then gestured at a pair of male lions, who nodded with acceptance and respect, walking towards Rani and carefully getting her over their backs. Kiara nodded at them with thankfulness and then glanced back at the hyena, who was looking at her with a straight face, sitting down with her lower jaw raised a bit, demonstrating power and authority. "Jasiri." Kiara said.

Jasiri didn't say anything for a moment then sighed and looked upwards. "The sun is still young, Queen of the Pridelands." She got into her four paws and walked towards Kiara, stopping right in front of her. "And the blood of your pride already paints our land."

Kiara growled at her. "What does this means?" She gestured briefly at Rani.

"It's a chance, Kiara." Jasiri began to walk around her, not minding the menacing growls of the lions. "A chance I'm giving you and your pride to leave our land and never come back!" Her statement echoed among the rows of hyenas, laughs of warning were heard after so.

"You broke the decree, Jasiri." Kiara stated, also walking while looking into her eyes. "You knew the consequences."

Jasiri chuckled with mockery. "Consequences?" She gestured at the piles of dead lions. "The only thing you've shown is the great weakness of Mufasa's kingdom."

Kiara growled. "Stop invading…our land!" She let out a powerful roar, Jasiri didn't flinch.

"Your land?" Jasiri suddenly stopped walking, turning and glaring at the sky. "That's not what Kion promised me time ago." She thought for a long moment. "I still remember the words of the king."

_Jasiri and Kion were hunting together at the __savanna__, among other lions and __hyenas__, running between the __occasional__ trees and lakes. Jasiri glared at him. "You think you can beat me?" She chuckled arrogantly. "Let's see who throws the first bite!" She focused on the families of zebras they were chasing._

"_Oh, is that a challenge?" Kion playfully raised an eyebrow, they both had reached the early adulthood, his mane had grown considerably, still being vaster on the top of his head._

"_Maybe." Jasiri didn't slow down her rush._

"_Well, if that's the case…" Kion chuckled and started to run faster, briefly getting past Jasiri, who shared his daring chuckle and hurried her steps._

_They kept running, followed by their respective groups, the glares of Jasiri and Kion never deviated from the zebras that got closer at each quick step they took. They started to get fatigued but kept hurrying, finally reaching the zebras' hind legs, jumping at them, sending three zebras to the grassy ground, the other lions and hyenas reached the remaining zebras and began to attack them._

_Kion and Jasiri killed the three zebras with several fatal bites, eating some of their meat and laying over the ground for a moment to recover their breaths, sighing while the other lions enjoyed their meals. Kion chuckled and looked at Jasiri. "I won."_

"_Hey! I bit first and you know it!" Jasiri argued._

"_It's a…tie, then." Kion smirked at her, raising his eyebrow._

"_No, I won't accept that." Jasiri stood up and approached him. "I won, Kion."_

_Kion smiled and lowered his head, shaking it, he then glared at her and gestured at the dead zebras, giving her the reason. "Alright, after you."_

_Jasiri bowed her head with thankfulness, looking at the feast with arrogance. "Thank you." She walked towards one of the zebras and started to eat, expressing satisfaction._

"_Is it that good?" Kion inquired, walking towards her._

_Jasiri munched the zebra's meat a few more times before speaking. "I can't remember the last time I ate zebra." She chuckled before taking another bite._

"_Well, you could eat zebra every day." Kion got closer to the zebra and started to eat too._

"_That would be good." Jasiri kept eating. "But there are no zebras on the Outlands."_

"_That I know, Jasiri." Kion looked at her. "This place is big enough."_

_Jasiri stopped eating and looked at him. "I don't know, Kion. I respect your father's laws on hunting, but I can't say the same of the others." She poked her head, seeing her equals eating way faster than the lions. "They can't control themselves, so, it's better to keep them out of your land, but I appreciate this, uhm, invitation."_

"_You are the queen, aren't you?" Kion asked_

"_So-so, but, I know what you mean." Jasiri said. "Maybe I could, uhm, ask them what they think about it." She smirked at him. "But thanks, Kion. I really appreciate it."_

"_Hey, there's nothing to thank about. I promise, that when I become king, the Outlanders will be welcome to live in the Pride Lands." Kion stated firmly, making her to smile with thankfulness, he returned her the smile and then they kept eating._

Jasiri's direct, confident glare was locked on the clouds that covered the sky. "Promises are promises, Kiara." She looked at Kiara over her back. "And royal ones are even stronger."

Kiara growled at her. "That deal, or whatever you're talking about, it was broken by the council's decree. You belong to the Outlands." Kiara stopped walking and sat down a few steps behind her. "You know who proposed the decree, Jasiri?"

Jasiri stood silent for a moment, reflecting on Kiara's words, lowering her head, glancing at the ground. "He is not the same." She got into her paws and started to walk calmly around Kiara. "My friend, my brother got lost time ago, and I…"

"Don't you call him that way." Kiara warned with a growl.

Jasiri frowned at her. "Kion." She said the name loudly. "He betrayed his past, his values." Jasiri stated. "But I'll still take the promise he made to me, as it came from the Kion I knew, the joyful, fair and compassionate lion that was my friend! He was my friend!" She exclaimed with tears on her eyes. "And a friend's promise, is greater, much greater than a meaningless decree!"

"Then you leave us with no more choice than war! To all of the hyenas!" Kiara exclaimed with anger, the remaining lions roared fiercely.

"And tell Kion to come with everything he's got!" Jasiri approached her rapidly, enraged and determined. "Tell him to bring his fiercest, strongest legions to the Outlands! As a great army, the greatest of armies will await with open jaws." She growled at her. "And that I'll be waiting for him, to kill him for breaking the promise that he once made to all of us."

Kiara grunted and turned, looking at her pride and gesturing frontwards, starting to walk away. She stopped walking and gave a final glare at Jasiri. "You are in no position to ask me anything, Jasiri. But be sure that devastation will rain over these lands, when you less expect it."


	10. Episode 10: Collision

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 10: Collision

It was midday, Kion, Kovu and the group of lions that accompanied them walked through the dry grass of the savanna, having exited Ferezan, en route to their home, being still far from the dividing river. Emba laid on the back of his father, having fallen asleep, Kion waited a few miles to finally speak with Kovu. "What did you tell him?" Kion inquired, with his tone straight. "About the war."

"It wasn't my intention." Kovu responded. "But it doesn't matter, anyway."

Kion frowned and looked at him. "It doesn't matter?!" He murmured. "The last thing I want is my children to know about this!"

"So do I." Kovu kept glancing frontwards. "But you can't cover the sun with a paw, Kion." Kovu glanced at him briefly. "What will you tell Emba or Ari when their friends mourn the loss of their parents? When they see the hordes of lions and hyenas attacking our pride? What will you tell them?"

Kion sighed rather upset. "That ain't happening, Kovu, not after the deal we've made with Ferezan. The Pride of Baturu and the hyenas won't stand a chance against us."

"Kion, even with Fuli's legions at our side, we are still too few to battle those armies, not counting Nandari's." Kovu argued.

Kion chuckled with disbelief. "We have no issues with Nandari, they won't go to war."

"Not willingly, maybe." Kovu said. "But you know Baturu, he'll try to make his army bigger, by any means."

Kion gave some thought to Kovu's words, finding some reason in them. "I'll have to talk with Nekeri, then."

"Come on, Kion. If he doesn't accept helping Baturu, what will he do for us?" Kovu argued.

"I'm not asking him for help." Kion said. "I'll offer them protection." He glared at him.

Kovu sighed and shook his head. "That won't be enough. With or without the Nandari, Baturu and Jasiri's armies are still much bigger and powerful than ours."

Kion chuckled confidently. "And you think they'll fight together? One thing that Baturu hates more than our pride are the hyenas, he'll go after them first." He looked at the front and raised his gaze a bit. "We have everything under control, Kovu. War won't reach our barriers, I can assure you that."

Kovu chuckled with incredulity while shaking his head. "If that decree hadn't been spok…"

Kion growled and scratched the ground with his claws, looking at Kovu with a frown. "But it was spoken, Kovu!" He exclaimed, getting the attention of the group, waking up Emba. He looked at them for a moment, then looked back at Kovu with a straight face. "It was spoken." They all kept walking, Emba just rested his head on his front legs again, now hearing the conversation. "Kovu, the clans were out of control!" He mumbled. "If we hadn't taken that decision, they would be on the throne right now, or worse, there would be no throne! Disorder, hunger, death!" He argued. "You wanted that for Kiara, for Zale, for Keru?"

"We may have stopped those things for a while, but now we have war right over us, and what does that bring? The things you've just said, Kion." Kovu responded with a straight tone.

Kion stood silent for a moment. "And what did you propose?" He looked at him. "Remind me."

Kovu switched his gaze from Kion's and the ground. "I…" He sighed. "It's too la…"

"No, Kovu, tell me." Kion said. "What did you propose?"

Kovu let out a sigh of frustration. "I…" He shook his head and glanced away. "As I was saying…it's too late."

Kiara, Rani and their now reduced group of lions returned to the Pride Lands, reuniting under the Pride Rock. The two lions who carried Rani approached Kiara, who then glanced at the group. "Call Zaire and Mosabi, now!" A couple of lions obeyed her command and left in order to look for the lionesses she asked for. Kiara gestured upwards, turning and walking towards the rocky path that led to the cave, the two lions who were carrying Rani over their backs followed her, the rest of the pride just left.

Kiara led the lions to the cave's inside, they walked towards the darkened bottom of it, lowering Rani gently on the cold rock. Kiara switched her gaze from her to the lions. "Thank you." The lions bowed their heads, then they walked out from the cave.

Kiara looked back at Rani, sitting before her, glaring at her wound, noticing her broken breathing. Her ear twitched when hearing hurried steps echoing in the cave, she turned and saw Zaire and Musabi entering the cave, heading towards her and Rani. The two lionesses stopped rushing right in front of Kiara, sitting down and bowing their heads. "My queen." They said.

"Please." Kiara gestured at Rani. "She is very hurt." She moved a bit away to let them see her more closely.

Musabi crouched and studied the wound for a moment, she licked it and then after some seconds of thought, she looked at Zaire. "Ornum." Zaire nodded and left in a hurry.

Kiara sighed. "Will she get better?"

Musabi straightened. "She will, my queen." She responded. "She'll just need rest." Musabi looked at Rani again. "A lot of rest."

Kiara let out a sigh of calmness. "Thanks, Musabi. I don't know what this pride would do without you two."

Zaire arrived quickly, with several plants on her snout, which had tiny white flowers on them. She got next to Musabi and lowered her head, dropping the plants before her. Musabi picked them with her jaws and started to munch them, then she approached Rani and crouched again before the wound, she began to lick it, spreading the paste she had made by munching the Ornum plants over the wound. After about a minute, Musabi straightened again and nodded at Kiara. "Give her a couple of days." She smirked at her.

Kiara gave her a thankful smile. "Thanks again for the help." Musabi and Zaire made a reverence, then they walked away from them, leaving the cave.

Kion and Kovu arrived later, their group just dissipated gradually before reaching the Pride Rock. The two kings walked up to the cave then got inside. Kovu and Kion walked calmly in the dim darkness of the cave. Kion crouched and gently placed Emba over the ground, slipping him from his back. Emba blinked a couple of times then closed his eyes completely again, as he was exhausted. Kion kept walking, then gasped when seeing his mate laying over the ground and his sister sitting next to her, he and Kovu hurried their steps towards them. "Rani…" Kion said with worry before approaching her after a couple of jumps between the rocky levels. Kion noticed Rani's wound, her fur covered with red and green, finding out she had been attended on time. "What happened?" He crouched and stroked her neck with his head then looked at his sister. "Kiara, what happened?" He asked again.

Kiara shook her head. "They were too many, Kion." She explained.

Kovu got next to Kiara, resting his head on hers. "We should've gone with you."

"It would've been useless." Kiara stroked him with her forehead, lowering her gaze. "We got massacred."

Kion raised an eyebrow and got into his paws, approaching Kiara. "Massacred?"

Kiara nodded. "Jasiri's army is much bigger than we thought, Kion. Much, much bigger."

Kion glared down, sighing with disappointment. "I see." He said then looked at her. "That means we made a good decision."

Kiara looked at Kovu with inquiry, who looked at Kion. "Kion made a deal with Fuli. Ferezan can hunt on our lands." He glanced again at his mate. "We got their warriors." Kiara glanced at her brother.

Kion nodded. "We have no other choice." Kion walked towards her. "Even less with what happened today."

Kiara thought for a moment, glancing down briefly then back at her brother, nodding at his statement. "Are they enough?"

Kion looked at the outside through the cave's entrance. "They're the best we can get for now." He walked towards his mate and laid down next to her, licking her forehead, closing his eyes to take a long rest after the exhausting morning journey.

Kiara yawned deeply and walked towards a higher area of the cave, a few meters away from where Rani and Kion were laying. She laid down and rested her head over her front legs, letting out a sigh of tiredness. Kovu glared at her for a moment then started to walk away. He exited the cave and headed to the tip of the rock, laying down and looking at the land. He heard laughs and little growls below, so he looked down and saw Keru and Zale brawling playfully under the shadow of the rock, throwing weak blows and bites, his niece Ari was also part of the game. He smiled, with his eyes locked at the scene, looking at his cubs, having a moment of unexpected hope, calmness and joy.


	11. Episode 11: Hospitality

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 11: Hospitality

The cold of the night's eve woke up Emba, he slowly got into his paws and yawned, stretching while looking through the cave's entrance, glaring at the dark blue sky of the late afternoon, the stars were still hidden. He walked over the rocky, cold ground of the cave, towards the bottom of it, seeing his parents sleeping and gasping when noticing his mother's wound. He hurried his steps a bit, trying to take them as silent as possible, he then approached Rani and got close to the wound. "Mom." He mumbled, Rani moved a bit and let out a sigh of troubled yet deep sleep. Emba glanced at his father and walked towards him, standing on his hind legs and putting his paws on his back, patting it gently yet repeatedly. "Dad?" Kion was laying on his side, facing the rocky wall.

Kion's sleep wasn't as deep as Rani's, he only made a sound of sleepy inquiry, having heard his son's voice.

"What happened to mom?" Emba asked.

Kion yawned and moved a bit, his ear twitched slightly. "What is it, son?" He was now awake enough to answer his son's question. He let out a sigh and briefly after so, he yawned again. "Don't worry, son. Your mom is fine."

"But, what happened?" Emba insisted, still murmuring. "She is wounded."

Kion delayed a bit to provide an answer. "She fell."

Emba raised an eyebrow, looking at his mother's wound once again, trying to make up the scene on his mind, thing that his young thinking found plausible. "From where?" But he still wanted more information.

Kion sighed, a bit frustrated. "I don't know, she just told me." He let out a final, made up yawn, pretending to fall asleep to avoid more questions.

Emba stood there for a moment, thinking while seeing Rani's wound. He got his paws off his father's back and approached his mother again, getting in front of her head, he leaned towards her forehead and licked it. "Get well soon, mom." He mumbled and remained sitting before her for a long moment then just walked away from her.

Ari, Zale and Keru were sleeping on a low level of the cave, inside a hole on one of the cave's walls, with a brief stair like natural path that led to the aperture's inside. Emba jumped in there and approached his sister, patting her head with a paw repeatedly. "Ari." He mumbled, a bit loud to wake her up. "Ari." He insisted.

Ari opened her eyes narrowly. "What?" She inquired with a sleepy voice.

Emba gestured upwards, towards the entrance. "Let's go explore, my parents are asleep."

Ari closed her eyes with disinterest. "And get in trouble for nothing?..." She yawned briefly. "…no thanks."

Emba sighed. "Come on, we won't get in trouble, it's barely night we can go and return without them noticing."

"Explore?" Keru said, he had been woken up by Emba's words. "Where?" He got into his paws and approached Emba.

"See, Ari?" Emba insisted by pushing her with his front paws. "We are two already, don't be a killjoy."

Zale stretched and yawned. "I'll go with you." He approached his brother and his cousin.

Ari remained with her eyes closed, after some uncomfortable silence, she opened one eye and looked at the insistent faces of her brother and cousins, who were just smirking at her, gesturing towards the exit with their eyes.

Ari sighed with resignation and stood up slowly. "Where to?" She expressed with tiredness.

The four cubs exited the cave with silent yet hurried steps, walking carefully over the path that led to the ground under the Pride Rock, running right when reaching the grass of the savanna, running to the west. Their laughs of expectance, curiosity and pure fun ignited by the cold wind and the sound of their paws crushing the dry grass merged with the awakening of the first stars, they felt like giants running on a playground, with no fears or worries at all, just the impatience of finding something new and interesting.

The little lions ran with no cease, the rows of trees slowly started to appear, among the rivers and lakes, flocks of different types of colorful birds flying with fright by their sudden presence, letting out many complaints that then got lost behind their way.

Time flowed rapidly while the cubs rushed to the unknown. "Emba…" Ari breathed in and out repeatedly just as the rest. "I think we just left the Pride Lands."

"Then…" Emba tried to hurry his rush but was getting very tired so he decided to stop running and sit down over the grass to take a break, so the others did the same. He inhaled and exhaled deeply along with the rest before finishing his response. "…it means we're just starting." He looked at his sister and smirked daringly at her.

"Emba, we should go bac…" Ari was interrupted.

"Ari, we know how to return." Zale said. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?" His ear twitched and his eyes widened when hearing a noise behind them. "Uhm, cous…"

"Yes, I heard it." Emba tilted his head slightly to hear better, then the noise sounded again, like moving grass. He noticed that a bush among them was moving. "Maybe we should keep moving."

"Why?" Keru asked with fright.

Emba kept glaring at the bush then did a gesture of disinterest. "Meh, maybe it's just a mouse or something."

Suddenly, between the leaves of the almost dry bush, a pair of yellow, glowing feline eyes opened, thing that the four cubs noticed, backing away with sudden gasps. "Emba, I don't think that's a m…" Ari gasped again, and right when they saw the first paw of the mysterious animal exiting from the bush, the four cubs started to run, repeatedly looking back at the feline that chased them. "I told you so, Emba!"

"This is no time for 'I told you so's'!" Emba argued, breathing quickly.

"Oh I think it's just the right time for those, I knew we should've stayed in the cave!" Ari responded.

"Zale!" Keru was very scared and worried, having trouble to follow the rapid steps of the rest.

"Just keep running, Keru!" Zale watched over him by turning his glare occasionally, slowing down his rush a bit.

The four cubs kept looking over their backs at their persecutor, having not paid attention to the brief cliff ahead them, Emba and Ari were the first to fall, then Zale and Keru. The cubs hit a couple of rocks of the cliff's wall, groaning and falling, then the four finally fell over the sandy ground among cactus, piled rocks and more dry bushes. Emba got over his paws with struggle, breathing with worry, his sister got up after him then Zale also got into his paws while helping his brother to do so. "I think we lost him." Zale looked sidewards and yelled with great fear when seeing the feline's face right before him, falling over his back then immediately standing up and backing away from the caracal, who was a cub just like them, he was sitting down, glaring at them with an eyebrow raised.

"Please, don't eat us!" Keru pleaded, getting behind his brother, poking his head out to keep seeing the caracal.

"Eat you?" The caracal chuckled. "Why would I? We don't eat lion."

"And…what are you?" Emba asked, still staying close to his cousins and sister.

"Well, a caracal." The feline explained and started to walk towards them.

"And…why were you chasing us?" Ari asked. "We were very scared."

"I'm still scared." Keru commented.

The caracal chuckled again. "I just wanted to guide you to my land, there you can spend the night, maybe have some dinner too."

Zale raised an eyebrow." Well, thanks but, I think is better if we just return."

"That's not a good idea." The caracal said. "Even less with the hyenas."

Emba raised an eyebrow, standing and approaching the caracal. "What's up with them?"

"I've seen some of them wandering at night." The caracal lowered his head. "They killed two of my friends a few days ago."

Keru gasped, getting out of his brother's cover. "Your friends?" He spoke with empathy and sorrow.

The caracal nodded, keeping his gaze on the sandy ground. "We were playing hide and seek." He let out a nostalgic chuckle. "We loved that game. I was hiding behind a rock, about an hour passed and I wasn't yet found. Weird thing, so I decided to get out of my hideout." He stopped talking for a moment. "And then…" He took a deep breath. "I found them." His voice was broken. "And I can't forget how I saw them." He sobbed, managing to contain his cry. "But…" He sighed. "Those things happen, I guess."

Keru walked by his brother then approached Emba and the caracal, sitting down next to his cousin. "I'm sorry." Keru said.

The caracal looked at him, smiling. "Thanks."

Keru thought for a moment, turning and looking at his brother and cousin briefly then looking back at the caracal. "We can be your friends."

The caracal smiled at him, looking at the rest friendlily. "That doesn't sound bad." He chuckled. "Alright." He gestured rightwards. "I'll take you to Nandari, I'm sure you're gonna like it." He began to walk towards his still far land.

Emba looked at Ari, gesturing at the caracal, she just sighed with resignation and approached them then Zale followed their steps. He got right next to the caracal. "And, what's your name?" Zale inquired.

"Nuku." The caracal responded. "And yours?" He asked the four cubs.


	12. Episode 12: Repose

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 12: Repose

Nuku and the four lions walked over the sandy, dry ground, under the cover of the star filled sky. Keru was trembling by the coldness of the night just as the rest. "T…te..tell me you got…c…caves there."

"Of course." Nuku responded with a chuckle. "We have caves, fires…all we need to stay warm."

Ari sighed by the cold, her breath exited as vapor that then vanished. "C…could you j…just wait til' we arrive, g…guys?" She trembled almost as repeatedly as Keru. "Your w...words are just getting m…me col…colder."

"We are almost there." Nuku turned and smirked at her, then he glanced back to the front.

After a few more minutes of travel, the lions and the caracal arrived at the entrance to Nandari, the beginning of the defile that naturally emulated a tall door, they entered and Emba, Ari, Zale and Keru looked with cautiousness at their sides, studying the several types of cactus that grew from the sandy walls. They began to spot the first caves with their gaze, holes over the walls' surface, some of them ground level and others a bit higher, with their respective paths, finding only empty ones at first but then the caracals began to appear in their caves, looking at their guests with subtle yet welcoming eyes, the ambient got gradually warmer as the first sets of fires began to appear on the cubs' way, along with more caracals that just walked by them, alone or with their families, they were smaller than lions, but no too much.

"So…what you think?" Nuku asked, turning to look at them briefly.

"It's pretty." Ari expressed, smiling at Nuku.

"It's warm." Keru said with reassurance.

"How many of you live here, Nuku?" Emba asked.

"Well…all of us." Nuku responded, glaring at his equals, on the sides, at the caves, the ones who laid before the fires. "After half of us were exiled, we found this place." He explained. "My uncle convinced the rest to leave the Pride Lands and come here."

"No offense, but, why would you like to leave the Pride Lands?" Zale asked.

Nuku sighed. "Here we discovered peace. No clans, no wars. Just…well…" He gestured frontwards. "This."

Emba approached Nuku, getting right next to him. "And you don't mind…uhm…well, being ex…"

"Exiled?" Nuku chuckled. "It may be the best thing that happened to us."

Emba raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I've just told you." Nuku concluded. They reached the dead end of the defile, where more caves surrounded them in the wide, flat area they had arrived at, where several families of caracals enjoyed their dinner. "And here we are." Nuku led them to the spot where his family was eating, they approached the four caracals that were busy enjoying the meat of the kudu they shared, the little lions sat down behind Nuku, who approached his family a bit more and sat before the meal, looking at his parents and siblings. "Mom, dad. Vari, Makei." He gestured backwards at the four lions. "These are my new friends, Ari, Keru…uhm…Emba and Zale." He then gestured at his family. "Friends, my family."

Nuku's father finished munching the bite of Kudu he was having and raised his gaze at the four cubs, who took a couple of steps towards them. He looked at them for a moment then smiled. "You must be hungry." The lions looked into each other's eyes then glanced at the kudu and finally at the adult caracal, nodding at the same time. "Go ahead, then." After giving them a welcoming grin, Nuku's father kept eating, the four cubs shared more uncertain looks. He looked at them once again and chuckled friendlily. "Come on, there's plenty." He spoke with his mouth full.

Nuku looked at them then approached the kudu and started to eat. Emba was the first to accept the invitation, which made Keru and Zale to do the same, Ari was the last one. Emba, just as the rest, munched the kudu's meat with satisfaction. "I'd never tried kudu before…it's delicious!"

"There aren't many of them where we live." Keru opined, also enjoying the dinner he was having.

"Pride Landers?" Nuku's mother asked.

"Mhm." Emba just expressed confirmation.

"And where did you meet them?" Nuku's mother asked his son, rather upset. "Not at the border, I hope." She looked at Nuku.

"Well…" Nuku looked away. "I was just…uhm…exploring a bit."

The mother sighed. "What have we told you about going there on your own, son?"

Nuku lowered his head. "That I shouldn't."

Nuku's father chuckled comprehensively. "He is just a kid, Naibi." He received a look of warning from his mate then he looked back at his son and kept eating. "But your mother is right, Nuku. That's no place for a cub, at least not now with all those hyenas."

Zale swallowed the bit of meat he was having. "I thought they only lived at the Outlands."

"And you're not mistaken, youngling." The adult caracal replied. "They only want to cause trouble…" He shook his head. "…big trouble."

"Nuku told us about his friends." Ari added. "That must've been horrible."

Nuku's father nodded, having adopted a straight face. "It was." He nodded subtly. "It was horrible."

"We should force them out." Nuku said. "They have nothing to do here, dad."

"The best way to survive is to remain retracted as your uncle has told us." His father responded.

"I don't want to survive, I don't want to be afraid…I can't play, I…I can't sleep." Nuku's voice started to break, Naibi then walked towards him and got her lower jaw over his head, stroking him.

"Son, we are here with you." Naibi reassured. "Nothing is going to happen to you or your sisters while we are here." She said. "But no more exploring, okay?" She stopped stroking him and looked into his eyes. "Just for a while, son."

Nuku got thoughtful for a moment then lowered his gaze and nodded with resignation. "Yes, mom."

After getting their bellies full with kudu, Nuku and his sisters were leading the four lions to their cave, walking up on the path that led to it, which was of those that were located in the middle of the mountain's wall. "So…who's in charge here?" Emba asked just for curiosity.

"Nekeri." Makei responded.

"He is our uncle, actually." Vari added.

"And, have you told him about what happened?" Zale asked.

"Of course I told him, but…" Nuku sighed rather frustrated. "He just told me to overcome it, and that was it." They finally arrived at their cave, far smaller than the Pride Rock's, but big enough for a family of caracals, it was very warm and the ground was flat and sandy just as the walls. Vari and Makei didn't hesitate to go to sleep right away, laying on the ground and starting to rest after tired yawns. Nuku walked towards them and laid among them, closing his eyes and getting himself comfortable, then opening one and seeing the four lions staring at them with doubt. He closed his eye again and let out a sigh. "You should rest." He yawned briefly.

Keru walked towards the corner at the bottom of the cave, laying there and resting his head over his front legs, the warmth of the place triggered his sleep rather rapidly. Zale then walked towards him and laid next to him. Lastly, Emba and Ari approached their cousins and also laid down among them. The peace and warmth of Nandari led them rapidly to a quick, untroubled rest.

A/N: Hi, readers! Thank you so much for the awesome support you've given to my story, it means a lot. God bless you.


	13. Episode 13: Toss

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 13: Toss

It was midnight, Nuku laid among his parents and sisters, he twitched and trembled constantly over the ground, groaning and gasping, moving his paws while shaking over his back, with a face of fear and worry. Naibi opened her eyes slowly, having been awaken by her son's groans, she saw him and sighed when noticing his troubled sleep, she moved a bit to get closer to him and licked his forehead, making him to gasp and wake up abruptly. "Shh…" She stroked him with her lower jaw. "It's me…son." She rested her head over her front legs, next to Nuku, who was now awake, he yawned and laid his head against his mom's.

"I saw them again." Nuku said with a broken voice.

"It was only a dream, Nuku." Naibi said reassuringly.

"I wish it was." Nuku replied. "You saw them too, mom." He sighed by the painful remembrance. "Dokka and Gezi."

Naibi stroked him again. "I did." She said. "I can't possibly imagine how much you miss them."

Nuku let out a sob. "What did they do?" His voice was deeply broken, he began to sob more repeatedly.

"Who, son?" Naibi inquired.

"My friends…" Nuku started to cry. "What did they do to them?" He sobbed. "To the hyenas?"

Naibi lowered her head, getting thoughtful by her son's question. She just rested her head over his back. "There's evil out there, Nuku." She yawned. "But I'm here with you, and it'll not reach you."

Nuku sobbed. "I'm scared, mom, I…I don't know what to do…"

"That's why I'm here, me and your dad, alright?" Naibi said reassuringly. "You have nothing to fear."

Nuku closed his eyes again, letting more tears to fall, finding shelter in his mother's support, but still bearing a heavy sadness. After a few minutes, he finally managed to fall asleep, now more calmly.

The sunlight already invaded the cave's corners, Ari woke up with a long yawn, standing up and stretching at the view of the cave's outside, she glanced at her family then at Nuku and his sisters, their parents had already left the cave. She gave Emba and her cousins a final look, they were still deeply asleep just as the caracal, so she let out a sigh and just walked towards the cave's exit. She reached the beginning of the path that led to the yard, her eyes widened after taking just a couple of steps as she thought she had seen a familiar face through the narrow view between the two rocks that faced the cave, so she walked backwards and with an eye closed she looked through the narrow aperture, gasping and blinking when seeing her father at the distance, sitting down among four caracals, like waiting for someone. "Dad?" She mumbled at herself then turned and entered the cave again with hurried steps, approaching her brother and waking him up by stepping on his face with her front paws. "Emba…" She murmured rather loudly.

Emba growled with discomfort. "Ari…get off me…" He said while snarling and pushed her, rolling a bit over his back to ignore her and keep sleeping.

Ari grunted and looked briefly over her back then at her brother. "Emba…is dad…he is he…"

With a gasp, Emba rapidly got into his paws and looked at her with his eyes widened. "Here?!" He exclaimed, waking up Keru and Zale.

"Wh…" Zale yawned and stretched. "…what's going on?"

"My father, he is here!" Ari answered.

Nuku, Vari and Makei woke up abruptly. Vari yawned. "Why are your friends so scandalous?" She complained, glaring at her brother rather upset.

"Are we in trouble?" Keru inquired, who was still laying.

"Uhm, probably." Ari responded like stating the obvious, then she looked at Emba. "What are we gonna do?" She murmured worriedly.

"Are you sure it was him? Of all the places he could b…" Emba was interrupted by his sister's sudden rush to the exit. "…hey!" Ari got out of the cave again, sitting before the rocky aperture, looking at her brother then gesturing at the view with a subtle frown. Emba walked by Ari and closed an eye while getting his face against the two rocks, trying to spot his father. "Uhm, Ari…maybe you imagined it or som…" He gasped when finally seeing Kion, who was speaking with the caracals. "Oh…I think I'm imagining it too."

Ari sighed. "Emba, if he sees us here, he is gonna get mad."

Emba glanced down, putting a face of thought. "Okay…we just need to find another way, uhm…" He looked for an alternative to the path that led to the main yard, he took a few steps to the little barrier that started on the cave's entrance, he got over his hind legs and rested his front ones on the barrier, he poked out his head and gasped with relief. He looked at his sister. "Ari."

Ari approached him and adopted the same position, also poking her head a bit to see beyond the barrier, finding out the several sandy levels that they could use to go down the cave without their father noticing. "You think that's, well, safe?" She inquired.

"You got another idea?" Emba stated.

Ari sighed. "Fair point." She got her paws off the barrier and hurried into the cave, rapidly approaching her cousins. "Come on, we have to leave now."

"I don't wanna leave." Keru opined.

"Keru…" Zale warned.

"But Zale, it is good here, why are we leaving?" Keru asked.

Zale sighed. "You wanna get in trouble?"

"No." Keru responded.

"Then…" Zale gestured at the exit, making Keru to lower his head with resignation.

Nuku got into his paws and stretched. "Guys...what's going on?" Nuku approached Ari and her cousins.

"Ari, come on!" Emba said from the outside. Zale looked at his brother and started to head to the exit, hesitantly followed by Keru.

"Sorry, Nuku, we have to leave." Ari responded.

Nuku raised an eyebrow. "Why? It's still early."

Ari sighed while slightly shaking her head. "My father, he is here. He can't know we went here on our own."

"Why? I mean you're not hurt or something." Nuku joked.

Ari chuckled a bit. "Yeah, but…" She chuckled again. "I just know him, he is not gonna like it." She turned and began to head to the cave's entrance then looked over her back. "Thanks." She said then resumed her steps. Nuku thought for a moment then just followed them.

"Alright." Emba studied the barrier while taking a couple of steps backwards. "We just have to jump this thing and we'll be good to go."

"Are you sure there isn't another way out?" Zale inquired, looking briefly at the view next to him, spotting Kion again. He sighed and looked at the barrier. "Maybe we should just stay in the cave while my uncle leaves."

"Yes, we could do that." Keru said with a hopeful tone.

Emba ignored them and focused on the barrier. "Just watch and learn."

"Emba, I think we might listen to Zal…" Ari was interrupted by Nuku, who arrived and gasped when seeing Emba running towards the barrier.

"Hey! What ar…?!" Nuku stopped talking as Emba had already jumped, barely passing over the barrier.

Emba yelled with celebration then landed on the other side, just way differently as what he had in mind as he landed over piled, semi-spherical rocks that were covered by the sand, which instantly started to roll down and Emba couldn't stand over his feet on the continuously moving rocks, he screamed and started to fall down, hitting several rocks while groaning and gasping all the way down to the yard.

"Emba!" Ari exclaimed with worry then just took the path to the yard, now not minding the presence of her father. Zale, Keru and Nuku followed her.

Emba groaned while struggling to get into his paws. "Oh that…" He groaned again, finally managing to stand up. "…was not a good idea." Emba shook his head and opened his eyes, which immediately widened.

"It certainly wasn't." Kion said, looking at his son with disapproval, sitting down right in front of him.

Emba chuckled nervously. "Hey…dad…" He adopted a face of worry while looking at the ground with shame.

-Author's Note-

Special thanks to Rogue-Lion.


	14. Episode 14: Accord

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 14: Accord

At Nandari, Kion was scolding the four cubs. "What were you thinking? It's unsafe beyond the Pride Lands and you leave just like that, without any permission."

"We…" Emba had his head lowered just as the others. "We just wanted to explore a bit, that's all, uhm…" He sighed and got enough courage to look into his father's eyes. "We wanted to return, dad, bu…."

Nuku intervened, walking between the four cubs and getting in front of Kion. "I took them here…your majesty." He bowed his head and crouched briefly. "As you said, it's dangerous out there. I didn't want anything bad to happen to them."

Kion just kept his gaze on the caracal, thoughtful. He looked at his children and nephews, who glared at him with eyes of apology. Finally, he glanced back at the caracal. "What's your name?"

"Nu…" Nuku was a bit nervous. "Nuku."

Kion remained thoughtful for another moment then smirked subtly, giving him a thankful nod. "Thanks, Nuku." His ear twitched when hearing several steps at the distance. Nekeri and his two guards had arrived to meet with him. He turned his glance back to the children. "We'll have a word on this at home, you understand?" The four cubs nodded with hesitant acceptance. "On the meantime…" He briefly looked at the place. "Stay here." He finally left them to go talk with Nandari's king.

Ari sighed. "I told you, Emba."

"Hey, you guys wanna play or something?" Nuku inquired.

"Yes!" Keru said effusively.

Emba yawned. "I don't know, I'm kinda hungry."

Nuku chuckled. "We can eat later, come on." He turned and started to rush all of a sudden, followed by Ari, Keru and Zale. "Emba seeks!"

"Hey! That's not…" Emba ran after them for a couple of seconds, then just slowed his steps down and let out a sigh of resignation while the others kept running. "Okay…" He laid over the white sand and closed his eyes then covered them with both paws. "Ten..!" He yelled, with the defile's echo being enough for Nuku and the other three lions to hear the warning.

Keru spotted a crack at the foot of the right cliff, and smiling at his finding, he separated from the group and headed there to hide. Ari was glancing at her sides constantly to spot a possible hideout, she gasped when seeing a small path that took to the left cliff's inside, so she ran towards it with no more hesitation. Zale was just following Nuku, thinking he could arguably know the best hideouts in Nandari. The caracal was chuckling naturally, enjoying this time of frolic and joy.

Kion and Nekeri were walking, the later accompanied by other two caracals. "I must congratulate you, Nekeri." Kion was looking at the caves, the families and the casual caracals that passed by him. "You've made this place a true land to live."

Nekeri let out a brief chuckle. "It was like this when we found it." He explained. "We just saw a chance and, well, we took it."

"You look…so happy here." Kion kept glaring at the caracals he spotted at every corner of the place.

"We are, indeed." Nekeri said then looked at him. "But I suspect you're not here just to praise our Kingdom."

Kion got a straight face. "That's correct, King of Nandari." He kept glancing frontwards. "Baturu is coming."

Nekeri didn't say a word for a long moment then nodded slightly. "I know…"

They reached a path at the side of the dead end and took it. "Is Nandari prepared for such menace?" Kion asked, looking at Nekeri.

"No." Nekeri said. "We are not." He replied. "But the less we know about it, the better."

"And I respect that, Nekeri, I truly do." Kion said. "But…" He looked at his surroundings again. "…you have something beautiful here."

"If you're trying to convince me to battle, then you've come in vane, Kion." Nekeri adopted a more serious tone. "It's not the way of my Kingdom."

Kion sighed. "I know, Nekeri." He looked away to keep glancing at the cliffs' sandy walls. "No problems, no…disturbances…"

Nekeri got thoughtful for a moment. "You could argue that." He lowered his head slightly, shaking it and saying no more.

Kion looked at him with inquiry. "Nekeri?"

Nekeri delayed a bit more to answer but then finally explained himself, looking at Kion. "The hyenas." He said. "They're killing our children."

Kion gasped slightly. "Why?"

Nekeri nodded and turned his gaze to the front. "Exactly."

Kion reflected on what the king of Nandari had told him, glaring at the sandy ground while thinking about his proposal, he then looked at him. "We can offer you protection. From the hyenas, from Baturu." He finally got to the point.

Nekeri thought about Kion's offer, already wanting to say no, but he still had a vivid image of what had happened with his nephew's friends. "How much?"

Kion gave him a certain, firm nod. "Enough." He responded. "I'll give you lions and cheetahs to protect your land from Baturu and the hyenas, any menace that could arise, at least until the waters calm down."

Nekeri knew some fast paws and strong bites would bring good safety to his kingdom. "I…" He hesitated to answer and then just let out a sigh of resignation. "I accept your offer." He looked at Kion. "What does the king of the Pride Lands asks in exchange?"

"We just need your loyalty." Kion answered. "Don't let Baturu break you if h…"

"Kion." Nekeri interrupted him, rather upset. "Why would I even consider joining that lunatic?"

Kion nodded. "And that's just why I'm offering you this." He looked at the sky. "You know which side you're on."

"Nandari's." Nekeri replied, looking at Kion with a straight face.

Kion nodded subtly. "They'll be here by night." He informed. "You and your children shall sleep in peace from now on."

"And I bet…" Emba jumped into a cave. "You're here!" He woke up a caracal who was sleeping there, who growled at him. "Oh…" Emba laughed ashamed. "Sorry." He rapidly walked out the cave and kept searching, glaring at every spot of the cliff at the right, through every crack and cave he could spot. He sighed with frustration. "This is so hard. I'll never find thos…" He gasped suddenly when someone jumped at him from above, pushing him and making him to fall over the ground. He groaned and opened his eyes, seeing his sister who had her paws over his chest. "Got ya!" She exclaimed then Zale, Nuku and Keru also jumped from the rock above and started to bite him playfully.

"Hey! Stop it!" Emba complained while growling and struggling to get them off him. "…now!" He said while grunting.

Ari chuckled and finally let him stand up, the rest just stopped bothering him. "You really suck at this game, Emba." She chuckled mockingly along with her cousins and the caracal.

"Well, it's not my fault." Emba was licking his fur over the bites. "This place literally has like ten million places to hide in!"

"Oh, you're exaggerating." Zale chuckled.

"Well yes, but you get the point, right?" Emba said with a frown.

Nuku chuckled. "It's fine, Emba. We were getting bored anyway." He let out another chuckle and made the rest to laugh too.

"So funny you all…" Emba looked at them upset.

Ari got in front of him. "Come on, brother, we're kidding. Maybe with some practice…"

"You could find us in half the time." Keru added, making them to laugh again, looking at them with confusion as he didn't intend to mock Emba. "What? Or not?"

Emba tried to look upset but even he chuckled subtly at Keru's comment. "Maybe…"

"Okay, I guess that's enough hide and seek for now, so…who wants to hunt some mice?" Nuku proposed, giving them a daring look and adopting a hostile position.

"Me!" Ari, Keru and Zale all expressed.

Emba chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, why not?"


	15. Episode 15: Echo

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 15: Echo

Kion, his children and nephews were having lunch among the caracals, as Nekeri had insisted. They were eating kudu again. Nekeri, who was right next to Kion, walked away and got over a higher spot, getting the attention of some caracals. "Listen." Nekeri spoke a bit loudly to get the attention of the rest, including Emba, Zale, Keru, Ari and Nuku, who sat down along with the other caracal cubs, looking at the king of Nandari. "You wonder, what affairs could the king of the Pride Lands have with our territory?" He said. "Tragedy has shaken the peace we once took for granted, and you know what I'm talking about." Some nods and subtle, affirmative responses could be heard along with some mumbling. "We can't let that happen again, not to any of us less to our own children." He looked at Kion. "Kion, king of the Pride Lands." Nekeri bowed his head and looked at Kion with thankfulness. "Thanks for giving us your protection." The crowd began to murmur louder and some of them mimicked Nekeri's action and words.

Kion looked around him at the thankful eyes of the caracals, then he looked at the ground. "It's the least I can do." He glared at Nekeri. "No nation shall bend over at the hyenas, or any other menace that could threaten the wellbeing of its inhabitants." He turned and looked at the caracals once again, with a look of conviction. "The strongest jaws, the sharpest teeth, the fastest paws will protect you, and your children will live in peace, with no more fear or worry." More thankful words and manners came from the caracals. Nekeri nodded and walked down the level he had reached, returning to his previous spot next to Kion, resuming his eating before Kion did, then the rest of them continued enjoying the kudu.

In a cave that Nekeri had offered them to rest a bit after the vast food they had all eaten, Kion and the cubs were having an after-lunch nap. Keru was the only one of them whose sleep wasn't deep, so he blinked a couple of times while yawning, getting into his paws and approaching his uncle. He hesitated a bit but finally placed a paw on his snout. "Uncle Kion." Keru murmured. "Hey…" Kion just grunted inquiringly as a response. "Uhm…sorry, but…" He sighed. "I'm just…worried."

Kion yawned. "Why are you…" He exhaled. "…worried?"

"For, well…Nuku." Keru answered. "If something happens to him? He is, like, very kind and all."

"Don't worry about your friend, Keru." Kion replied with a sleepy tone. "He'll be safe."

"But…they killed his friends. Does that mean they did something wrong?" Keru asked.

"What do you mean?" Kion asked, now a bit more into the sudden conversation.

"I'm not sure." Keru sighed, lowering his head.

"They didn't deserve that, Keru." Kion had tried to figure out what Keru wanted to ask him.

Keru nodded subtly, as he now had an answer. "Uncle…and why? Why them?" He let out a sad sigh.

"Hyenas have always been, uhm, difficult to deal with, their story, it has always been one of conflict, of troubles." Kion said. "But even for them, what happened to those children is barbaric, Keru. The hyenas have lost all sense of good."

Keru thought about his uncle's explanation for a long moment then he patted his snout again to keep his attention. "So…that means they…" Keru sighed and shook his head. "…nothing." He turned and tried to go back to his spot but Kion stopped his steps.

"Keru." Kion said. "What was your question?"

Keru looked at Kion over his back. "Uhm…the hyenas…for what they do…it means they deserve it? To…die?"

Kion knew Keru was confused by all the things he had heard, the violence, the words back at lunch, things that even him when he was young, at least before the Lion Guard, didn't understand at all. "No." He responded. "No one does, Keru." He let out a long sigh and got himself more comfortable to keep sleeping. "No one does."

The night had arrived, Kion and the four cubs had finally left Nandari. They walked under the cover of the stars, stepping already on their territory, yet far from the Pride Rock. "Kids." Kion said suddenly. "What you did wasn't right."

"Yes, dad, we know." Emba replied, with a tone of guilt.

"Emba, do you have any idea of how…" Kion sighed. "…of how your mother and I would feel if we lose you?"

"Sad." Ari responded, thinking the answer was enough for Kion's apparently obvious question.

"No, Ari." Kion responded. "Devastated." He looked at his daughter, who was walking at his left side. "Destroyed, in many ways." He turned his gaze at his son, who was by his right. "Dead, that's how we would feel." Kion said firmly, he then looked a bit over his shoulder, glaring at his nephews. "Are you two listening?" Keru and Zale just nodded with shame. Kion looked back at the front. "We love you so much, kids. We just want y…" Kion began to hear several roars from the distance, ones of anguish and fury, he then began to hurry his steps, running towards the Pride Rock, forcing the cubs to also rush.

A lioness and her mate were sitting over the grass, crying with deep sorrow before their son, lifeless, covered in blood. The lioness frowned and let out a roar of mourn, then the lion did the same and they kept crying deeply. They noticed Kion arriving from afar. "My King!" The lioness exclaimed with desperation, with her voice greatly broken.

Kion finally arrived along with the cubs, instantly feeling a knot in his stomach when seeing the dead little lion. He stopped about a meter before them, standing with a look of true worry, switching his gaze from the corpse to the couple. "Melai..." He looked at the lioness then at the lion. "…Zerib, what happened?" He tried his best to hold the knot in his throat.

Melai sobbed. "Th…the h…" She cried out and rested her head on her mate's side.

"Hyenas…" Zerib said with a sadness that was also mixed with anger.

Ari, Emba, Zale and Keru just stood there, feeling cold and greatly impacted by the scene they were looking at, Emba recognized that cub, Ikbe was his name.

"Hyenas?" Kion was grasping the dirt under the grass strongly with his claws. "Why? What were they doing here?"

"I don't know, my king…I tried to run after them but…" The lion sobbed. "...Ikbe…"

Kion thought for a long moment, looking at them with pity. "I promise you…" He tried to hide his broken voice. "Ikbe will get justi…" Kion was interrupted by the three lionesses that arrived hurriedly.

"Kion! My daughter!" One of them exclaimed, crying along with the others.

"They killed them…my king…my poor children…" Another lioness revealed.

"Hereb…" The third lioness approached Kion and kept crying deeply.

Kion looked at them all, not bearing all the pain and sorrow they shared for their respective children. He just started to run towards the Pride Rock. "Kids! Come!" The cubs followed him.

After several rushed steps, Kion spotted the mates of the three lionesses, being accompanied by Kovu and Kiara. He headed towards them and saw the four dead cubs laying among them with blood covering their bodies and the grass. "Daddy, mommy!" Keru was crying, along with his brother, they both approached their parents, getting relieved licks and strokes from them.

"Where were you?" Kovu said with a broken voice, stroking Keru while Kiara stroked Zale. "We thought y…" He cried softly and let out a sob.

"H…how?" Kion asked the three lions.

"We heard screams…and laughs." One of the lions said, with his gaze firmly locked in his dead children. "Then…they just…" He lowered his head and began to cry, sobbing with anguish. "…they just…" He growled with anger. "…they just ran away like cowards!" He kept crying along with the other two lions. Kion got a bit closer to the scene, glancing at the corpses of the cubs, seeing their blood covering the grass. He stood firmly, with his claws puncturing the ground, he took a deep, long breath and looked into the sky, letting out a powerful, furious roar that lasted several seconds, a roar that was heard many miles around the Pride Lands, one that mourned, warned and sentenced at the same time.

Author's note: Thank you so much for the support! I wish you and your families a Merry Christmas! God bless you.

Grant


	16. Episode 16: Interval

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 16: Interval

At midnight, Kion, Kovu and Kiara were reunited at the cave's inside, the cubs were asleep as well as Rani as she was still recovering. "They can't stay here, the Pride Lands are not safe anymore for our children to live, Kovu." Kion said.

Kovu nodded. "I agree." He looked at his mate, who was sitting next to him.

Kiara replied with a nod, letting out a brief sigh. "Things have just gotten worse, and we don't know if they'll get any better." She looked both at Kion and Kovu. "It's the right thing to do, at least for now."

Kion lowered his head while giving some thought to the discussion. "Where will we take them?" He looked at Kovu, waiting for an answer.

"Ungari." Kovu responded with almost no previous reflection. "It is safe there, hidden, away from danger."

Kion thought about Kovu's proposal, then he nodded, maintaining his gaze on his eyes. "Someone must go with them."

"I'll do it, Kion." Kovu said.

"And I'm going with you." Kiara got closer to him, resting her head on his side, looking into his eyes.

Kovu sighed. "No, Kiara. The kingdom needs you." He looked over his back, glaring at Rani. "Rani is still hurt, and we need a queen to fight for the Pride Lands." He looked at her with a smirk of confidence, she lowered her gaze and nodded hesitantly.

"Kovu." Kion got into his paws and approached him, speaking with a broken voice. "Please…take care of my children."

Kovu nodded with a glare of commitment. "As if they were my own, Kion."

Later, Kion was laying outside of the cave over the edge of the Pride Rock, looking at the star filled sky, thoughtful and broken. "Dad?" His ear twitched when hearing his daughter's voice, he looked back and saw Ari walking towards him.

"Hey." Kion made up a subtle smile, Ari then laid down next to him, resting against his front leg. "You should be sleeping, Ari." He licked her head.

Ari yawned. "You too, daddy."

Kion let out a brief chuckle. "You're right." He sighed and took a broken, deep breath, a tear traveled down over the fur of his face.

Ari got closer to him. "Dad, are you okay?"

Kion delayed quite a bit to reply. "No." He said with a broken voice. Kion let out a sob, having been unable to hold it anymore. "Just…" He exhaled. "Go back to sleep, Ari." He couldn't hide the knot in his throat.

"Dad…if you want to cry…" Ari dragged herself towards her father's neck, getting under it. "…you can." She said with a reassuring voice. "It's okay." Kion was battling hard with himself, wanting to avoid the tears and the sadness he was feeling. "You can cry, daddy." Ari insisted.

Kion sobbed more deeply, his gaze was on the ground, the past's remnants mixing with his present, the Pride Land's present and the one of all the lands that surrounded it, the darkness that now covered Mufasa's Kingdom, as well as the darkness that was wrapping his feelings. He suddenly let out a loud, broken cry, followed by continuous sobs, then he kept crying with intense agony and sorrow, tears flowed like rivers over his face, in his cry there was mourn, guilt, nostalgia and several other feelings that only brought him to a deeper suffering. Ari also sobbed when feeling her father's sadness, also with tears forming on the corner of her eyes, then she also started to cry, sharing the pain and the sorrow of her father. The crying of the two lions lasted long, getting lost in the night's darkness and the dim light of the stars.

Next day's morning, Kovu and the cubs were about to leave, but Emba and Ari still wanted to say goodbye to their mother. Ari walked towards her and placed her forehead on hers. "I hope we come back soon, mom." She mumbled. "Take care of daddy." She licked her forehead and walked away from her.

Emba stroked Rani, resting his head against hers for a moment. "I'll miss you, mom." He said then walked towards his uncle and the other cubs.

Kiara sat down before her cubs, lowering her head a bit to look directly at them. "Don't cause your dad too much trouble, okay?" She suddenly pushed them gently with her head, bringing them to the ground, playfully tickling them with her snout, making them to chuckle along with her. Kiara finally stopped, Keru and Zale sat down again, glaring at her between chuckles. She stroked them with her lower jaw then licked their foreheads. "Don't worry, my children. This is your home, and we'll make sure you return soon." She looked at her brother briefly, Kion nodded with certainty.

Kiara gave them a last smirk then she approached her mate and rested her head on his, licking his face, then he did the same. "Be careful, Kiara." Kovu told her with worried eyes. "When I come back, I want to see my mate again…" He stroked her, rubbing his head against hers. "…to keep living as we once did." He looked into her eyes with a hopeful smile.

Kiara smirked at him. "You have nothing to fear, Kovu. I'll be waiting for you, every day."

Kovu let out a brief chuckle. "Every, single one?" Kiara just licked his face playfully.

"Mom…" Zale approached his mother and laid his head over her front leg. "…I don't want to go. I want to stay."

"Me too." Keru said with a broken voice, mimicking his brother's action.

"And I understand it." Kiara licked their heads before stroking them. "But it's necessary." She looked into her sons' eyes, gesturing at Kovu. Keru and Zale walked towards their father with their heads lowered.

Kovu turned his gaze from his children to Kion's. "It's time to go." He gestured at Kion.

Ari approached her father along with Emba, looking into his eyes. Kion smiled at them and stroked them with his lower jaw. "Your mother and I will miss you greatly, but I'm sure this separation won't last long." He looked into Ari's eyes and crouched a bit, licking her forehead. "My daughter…" He smiled proudly. "...don't forget that strength of yours. I'm sure they'll need it." He briefly glared at Kovu and his cubs as well as Emba. Ari just nodded, lowering her glare. "Hey, look at me…" She glanced into his eyes, with a tear forming in the corners of hers. "Be strong." Kion said with a more straight tone. "Ari." Kion looked at her, she nodded hesitantly. "That's my girl." He stroked her again then got closer to Emba and gave him a smirk. "Son."

"Dad…I can stay if you want." Emba's eyes were also teary. "I can fight, I'm big enough already."

Kion chuckled. "I do want you to stay, my son. But I would never forgive myself if that feeling gets you in danger." He rested his forehead against Emba's. "Take care of your sister, you are a team." Kion said, Emba looked at Ari then back at his father, nodding with some doubt. He chuckled and turned, taking a few steps towards the entrance, looking at the sun of the early morning. "Kovu." His voice echoed in the cave.

Kovu walked towards Kion then sat down next to him. "Yes, Kion?"

Kion also sat down over the rocky ground. "I insist." His voice was broken. "Take care of them…" He gasped a bit to fight the knot in his throat. "…see them grow…" His voice had just gotten more broken. "T…" He let out another gasp, rather frustrated, crying silently.

"And I insist too." Kovu got closer to him. "I'll take care of them, as if they were my own cubs."

Kion slowly looked at him, with tears traveling over the fur of his face. Kovu briefly got his head against his. "Thanks, Kovu."

Kovu got into his paws and walked away from Kion, facing the cave's entrance. He looked over his back at the four cubs. "It's time."

Zale, Keru, Emba and Ari approached Kovu, getting at his sides, then he just began to walk towards the exit. The five lions then started to go down the path between the cave and the grassed land. Kion observed them from the tip of the Pride Rock, standing with a nostalgic glare, seeing how they were leaving, getting lost in the horizon.


	17. Episode 17: Breach

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 17: Breach

At midday, below the Pride Rock, two huge groups of lions and cheetahs were expecting the words of the two siblings, Kion and Kiara, who were standing on the tip of the Pride Rock, looking down at them. "Warriors of Ferezan, of the Pride Lands, listen this well!" Kion exclaimed. "None of us will turn back until the battle is won! Jasiri and the outlanders will pay for what they've done!" The crowd roared and chirruped with courage. "As I promised to the nation of Nandari, two legions, one of Ferezan, one of the land of ours, will have the duty to protect the caracals from the threats of Jasiri and Baturu. The rest will fight today, to regain peace once and for all!" He raised his gaze and roared strongly, accompanied by his sister's roar and the ones of his warriors as well as the chirrups of Ferezan's.

Kiara looked at the legions, knowing they were ready to battle. "Lions! Cheetahs!" She roared. "The war on the hyenas starts now!" More roars and chirrups were heard.

Meanwhile, in the Outlands, Jasiri was in a cave, walking around Jazanu, with a frown of scold. "What have you done?!" She approached him and threw a blow at his snout, making him to growl and groan.

Jazanu gasped and frowned at her. "My queen! We have to show our strength! That nothing will stop us! That's what you asked me for when you named me captain!"

"At battle! At war! Not with small, defenseless cubs!" Jasiri growled at him. "The only thing you've shown is cowardice! Jazanu!"

"Cowardice! Just look at you, you just stay here waiting for them, while I actually take action and hurt them, hard!" Jazanu exclaimed, both of them were walking in circle while looking into each other's eyes.

"No, Jazanu! You just brought war earlier, that's all! And thanks to you, my children and yours will be in danger too!" Jasiri growled at him.

"You don't know that!" Jazanu argued.

"I know the lions, Jazanu, they'll want to get revenge." Jasiri got closer to him. "You've put our kingdom at risk."

Jazanu let out a brief chuckle of mockery. "Then nothing changed, Jasiri, we've been always at risk, we are hyenas. The exiled, the misfits, it's always been that way." He took a few steps towards her. "And that's exactly why I ordered my warriors to kill those cubs. They have to know we are sick of being the humiliated and the weak, they must know we'll do anything, and I mean anything, to change things forever."

Jasani growled. "I made a mistake when naming you captain of my legions."

Jazanu laughed. "Your legions?! Maybe back in the day, Jasiri." He chuckled arrogantly. "Now they only serve one hyena."

"My warriors are loyal, Jazanu." Jasiri said. "They know who they fight for."

"Well…" Jazanu growled and began to show his fangs with a daring smile. "There's only one way to find out."

"Jazanu…I'll give you the chance to leave the Outlands and never come back…you are no longer my captain." Jasiri grunted more strongly at him. She kept walking towards him, forcing him to walk back. They eventually exited the cave, stepping over the high, rocky path outside of it, several meters above the ground, like a cliff. Jazanu gasped a bit when his hind leg felt just air beyond the path, knowing he had reached the edge, so he just stopped walking back and rapidly got in the middle of the path, with his glare still locked on Jasiri's. "I insist, Jazanu…go away…with your children and mate."

Jazanu chuckled with a frown. "Jaira won't accept that…my queen." He said that last word mockingly. "I will stay."

"Then…" Jasiri crouched. "…you will die." She grunted with rage at him and jumped with her open jaws, bitting his neck strongly, making him to laugh with pain. The two hyenas began to fall down the cliff, hitting several paths and rocks, Jasiri's teeth were still biting Jazanu's neck with strength. After hitting a big rock, Jasiri let out a gasp of pain and let go off Jazanu's bleeding neck. They fell over the ground and slowly began to get over their paws. Several hyenas began to gather around them, more behind Jazanu than behind Jasiri. "Kill him!" Jasiri ordered, gesturing at Jazanu. "He has betrayed me!" She looked over her back and looked at the group of hyenas behind her. "Now!" The hyenas nodded hesitantly and growled while walking past her towards Jazanu.

"My warriors…" Jazanu chuckled. "You know what to do." The more numerous group of hyenas that was behind Jazanu started to laugh menacingly at Jasiri's. The two hordes started to run towards the other and they began to fight after the first bite was thrown, laughs of rage and pain started to come out. Jasiri surrounded the battling hordes to go after Jazanu, followed by a small group of hyenas.

Jazanu, who was still bleeding, ran towards a crack that led to a dark, narrow gorge, quickly getting in there. "Don't let him escape!" Jasiri exclaimed, running towards the crack and getting in, spotting Jazanu already. They kept running after him in the cramped path. Jazanu glared over his back continuously, feeling confident about his speed, but when looking back to the front, he gasped when seeing a dead end with no turns or cracks to keep moving, so he just stopped running and turned to face his upcoming adversary. Jasiri smirked when seeing he was trapped, she kept running and when reaching the dead end, she jumped at Jazanu, but a sudden bite on her side stopped her, she groaned and fell to the ground along with the hyena that had attacked her, who rapidly stood up and regrouped with the others. She groaned while trying to get into her paws, looking at Jazanu and the other three hyenas, with disbelief and great disappointment. "You too, traitors?!" She stood up with effort.

Jazanu laughed mockingly, getting in between the hyenas. "What a tragic end for the former queen of the Outlands." He started to take small steps towards her. "Abandoned by her own kind." Jazanu chuckled. "Alone…" He gestured at the three hyenas and they began to growl while approaching her, behind Jazanu.

"She is not alone!" A voice was heard nearby, it was Janja, who jumped at one of the hyenas with his open jaw, biting his neck strongly, bringing him down while laughing and groaning by the pain. The other two hyenas went to help him, leaving Jazanu alone with Jasiri.

"You were saying?" Jasiri was looking at him with a frown and a subtle smirk of confidence.

Jazanu growled at her. "One more, what's the difference?" He laughed. "We'll kill you both anyway!" He jumped at her with no previous warning, Jasiri crouched and hopped sidewards, evading him, she then took impulse and this time she jumped at him, biting his back, Jazanu laughed with pain and began to move and shake to make her release him, with no success, she bit him stronger, a lot of blood was already painting his back's fur, he groaned and dropped himself down as he couldn't stand the pain anymore.

Janja had managed to kill the first hyena, so there were two left, who were already biting him, but with a jump, he managed to get their jaws off him, getting hurt as they had gotten their teeth and fangs strongly nailed to his gray furred skin. He groaned and stood up along with them, the two hyenas tried to attack him again, he jumped and when being right between them, he threw a blow at their faces with his two front paws, they groaned and fell down while rubbing their faces.

Jasiri was biting Jazanu's neck repeatedly, making him to groan and growl strongly, letting out laughs of pain. She kept doing so until he didn't emit more noises or made more movements. Jasiri raised her head, looking at Jazanu, breathing in and out quickly by the effort she had made. Jasiri turned and saw Janja fighting the remaining hyenas.

Janja was getting tired, the two hyenas were walking around him, crouching, ready to finish him, but suddenly, Jasiri jumped towards one of them, tackling him. Janja gained confidence and frowned at the remaining one, waiting for him to jump first, as he did, Janja moved a bit to his side and when the hyena was right before his snout, he bit his side strongly. The hyena fell down with a laugh of pain, with his side bleeding. Janja rapidly jumped over him and bit his neck with strength and determination, killing him quite rapidly. He stood there, looking at the dead hyena for a moment, then he turned and found out Jasiri had dealt with her own rival. The ground was covered with blood and fur. Jasiri was sitting next to the hyena's corpse, inhaling and exhaling. Janja approached her and sat down next to her. "We have to go, now."

Jasiri was thoughtful, her eyes were lost on the scene. "Yes." She said with a broken voice. Jasiri then let out a sudden gasp. "Janja, the children, where ar…"

"They're fine. They are hiding. Come on." Janja walked back towards the gorge, followed by Jasiri. At the middle of the narrow path, Janja stopped walking. "Jara, Jaye." He whispered. The two hyena cubs exited hesitatingly from their hideout behind some rocky formations.

"Mommy..." Jara was crying, she walked towards Jasiri, getting next to her while resting her head on her side. "What happened?" Her voice was deeply broken.

Jaye approached his father, not wanting to say a word to hide the fear and sadness he was feeling, just getting by Janja to get a reassuring stroke. "We must leave, son." He looked away through the narrow crack, barely seeing the groups of hyenas battling. "We are not welcome here anymore."

"But...where will we go?" Jara asked with tears covering her face.

Janja sighed. "I don't know." He looked at Jasiri, who was glaring at him, also teary. "We'll have to leave that for later."


	18. Episode 18: Clemency

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 18: Clemency

Jazanu's hyenas were battling with the last of Jasiri's, the laughs, growls and bites lasted for several minutes, the ground was covered with corpses of warriors from both sides, predominantly with the ones who were still loyal to Jasiri. Gradually, the noise of the battle became more intermittent, until one final laugh was heard from the last loyal hyena, who got killed rapidly by a rival horde. A new silence was now present, one of victory for Jazanu's followers, but it also felt like one of division, of loss and hidden guilt. "Jazanu!" Juzare exclaimed, standing before the dead hyena, among his comrades. "Jazanu!" He spoke louder, getting no response.

"He is dead!" Another hyena approached them, sitting down and gesturing at the crack that led to the gorge, where Jasiri had killed Jazanu. "Jazanu is dead."

"Dead…" Juzare began to walk towards the crack followed by the other five hyenas. They entered the crack and reached the dead end. Juzare gasped when seeing Jazanu's corpse laying over the ground. "Indeed." He said, subtly smirking. "Our leader is gone." He made up a voice of lament.

"And now that Jasiri has left…" One of the hyenas said. "His son, Jakir, shall take his place."

Juzare's smirk faded, as he started to frown. "One would think that." He turned and approached the hyena. "It's the tradition, isn't it? The heir to the throne shall ascend at the predecessor's dead."

The hyena started to feel rather unsettled by the tone in Juzare's voice. "Yes…that's…the rule." He talked nervously.

Juzare kept looking at him, silent, maintaining his frown, then he let out a chuckle. "What has that cub done for this land? I ask." He looked over his back at Jazanu's corpse. "Isn't it more fair to let the captain's second in command to take his place?"

"Uhm…" The hyena knew he had no other choice but to concur. "Yes." He replied hesitantly.

Juzare's eyes were locked on Jazanu's dead body. "I'm glad you understand, Jinobe." He got thoughtful for a long moment. "Kill him."

Jinobe raised an eyebrow, as well as the others. "Who?...My king." He would be the first to ever give that title to Juzare.

"Jakir." Juzare finally turned his glare back at them. "Jazanu's heir, he cannot live, as my reign would be in danger."

"What about his brother? Jenuk." One of the hyenas asked.

"I want him dead too, as well as their mother." Juzare responded, walking in between them, heading back to the outside through the crack's narrow, dark path, followed by them. The six hyenas exited the crack. "Jinobe, this is your first task as my second in command."

Jinobe's eyes widened, feeling more worried than flattered. "Me?"

Juzare nodded, sitting down among some dead hyenas, the vultures were already watching over the place from the near sky. "Yes, Jinobe." He looked at him with eyes of confirmation. "Now, show your loyalty to me, get rid of Jazanu's family, and then I'll know I made the right choice." Jinobe got deeply thoughtful, almost lost, not saying a word. "Jinobe!" Juzare exclaimed angrily.

Jinobe gasped after visualizing the scene of his task's completion in his thoughts. "Yes…" He responded with agitation. "I…I'll do it..." He bowed his head hesitantly. "…my king."

Juzare looked at him for a moment, with a straight face and finding doubt in his words. "Right." He said. "Do it, now." He gestured away. "Find them, kill them and bring me their corpses." He started to walk away towards the legions of hyenas that were waiting for the words of Jazanu's second in command.

"Is it true, Juzare?" One of the many hyenas that were sitting there asked. "Is our leader dead?"

"I hate to be the one who confirms your fears." Juzare replied, walking by them casually. "Our captain, our leader…our king! He has perished! Under the jaws of the so called queen!" Murmurs and gasps of astonishment were heard.

"Then…the throne goes to Jakir!" One of them stated.

Juzare nodded. "The tradition establishes it clearly…and tradition must be obeyed." He stopped walking for a moment, with his back against them. "But today is a day of mourning, for our fallen brothers and sisters!" He exclaimed. "Let the rightful king ascend after our tears are dry and our hearts healed! We lost our captain! We lost warriors! Let this day be one of mourn and remembrance for those who aren't with us anymore!" He turned to looked at them again. He let out a loud laugh that simulated sorrow. The crowd imitated him, this time with true feelings.

Jaira, Jazanu's mate, was inside her cave along with her two cubs, looking through the compact entrance at the cave's left, seeing several dead hyenas laying over the ground at the distance, unable to see Juzare and the rest of the hyenas as her cave was quite far from there, so she and her children were completely unaware of what had happened. "Mother…can w…" One of the cubs asked but got rapidly interrupted.

"Hush…" Jaira said, with her cautious gaze still locked on the battlefield. "…not yet, Jakir."

Jakir let out a sigh of complaint. "But I want to go play, the mess must be over already." Jakir and his brother didn't get too impacted with the battles that occurred in their homeland, they were quite accustomed to the matter as their father was already teaching them how to fight, and even giving them some strategy lectures.

"I said no, Jakir." Jaira looked at her son with a frown of warning, snarling subtly.

"This is unfair! Everything must be over." Jenuk, the younger brother, took a few steps to approach his mother, but she growled at him while looking into his eyes with the same frown.

"Jenuk…" Jaira gestured at Jakir. "Go back there…"

Jenuk wanted to refuse at first, but there was nothing he could do against his mother's imperative eyes, so he growled in silence and turned, walking back to his previous spot, briefly looking at Jaira over his back. Jaira looked back at the static scene, fearing her mate's possible fate. Her ear twitched when hearing rushed steps coming from the path that led to the cave, she instinctively backed down a bit, giving a quick glare at her children.

"Jaira!" Jinobe arrived, running by her, entering the cave and looking at the two cubs.

"Jinobe?" Jenuk took a few steps towards him.

"Can you tell my mother it's safe outside?" Jakir asked.

Jinobe sighed. "I'm sorry, but…that would be a lie."

"Hey, Jinobe." Jaira approached him. "What's going on, where's Jazanu?" She asked with worry on her voice. Jinobe lowered his head, shaking it and giving her a glare of pity.

Jaira gasped. "What?...is he..?"

"The captain is dead." Jinobe replied. "I'm so sorry."

Jaira looked away then lowered her head, closing her eyes and sighing brokenly. "My Jazanu…" She slowly started to sob while looking at Jinobe. "What happened?" Her voice was broken.

"He…" Jinobe sighed. "He took over, Jaira, but the quee…Jasiri…she killed him."

Jaira raised an eyebrow. "Took o..?" There was confusion in her words. "Why would he do that?"

"Well he did, but his reign didn't last long." Jinobe added. Jakir and Jenuk where speechless, the knot in their throats was unbearable but they were fighting it with effort. Jenuk looked at his brother, with a tear on the corner of his eye, Jakir approached him and sat down next to him, resting his head against his reassuringly.

Jaira had her gaze lost on the dark, rocky ground. "He betrayed our queen?" She still found Jinobe's words hard to believe, but thought them plausible at the same time.

Jinobe sighed rather frustrated. "Jaira, you have to leave."

Jaira glanced back at him, with eyes of confusion. "Why?"

"Juzare…he wants your cubs dead…as well as you." Jinobe explained. "He sees them as a threat."

Jaira gasped with anger and disbelief. "Juzare?! He is almost family, why would he?!"

"He is king now." Jinobe said.

"No, he is not. Our leader is Jasiri, where is she?" Jaira responded.

"She left, Jaira! She is no queen anymore!" Jinobe growled. "But that's not why I'm here, I need you to leave!"

"Well we won't! Jinobe!" Despite of her anger, Jaira still had tears traveling over the fur of her face.

"Jaira, please!" Jinobe insisted with desperation. "I don't want to kill you!"

Jaira backed away from him, same as her sons. She looked at him with caution. "Jinobe…what are you talking about?"

"Juzare sent me here to kill you and your cubs!" Jinobe's voice began to get broken. "Forgive me…" He sobbed. "Y…you have to leave…please!"

Jaira looked at her cubs, who were trembling. She glared back at him, seeing the guilt on his eyes, along with the tears that were about to go down his face. "Jinobe…I…" She sighed. "I'm so confused." She sobbed.

"Just leave." Jinobe's voice had broke. "Please, he'll send more if I don't do the job."

Jaira got thoughtful, already picturing some scenarios far from the Outlands. "Jinobe…" She looked at him for a long moment. "I'll do as you say…for the safety of my children." She walked towards her cubs and sat down before them. "We have to leave, my sons." She licked their foreheads. None said a word, they just got into their paws, ready to follow their mother. Jaira walked towards the entrance, letting her children exit first. She gave a final glare at Jinobe. "Remember this." Jaira frowned a bit at him, letting a couple more tears to escape from her eyes. "One day… my children and I will return."


	19. Episode 19: Scheme

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 19: Scheme

The canyons of the Outlands were getting on sight for the pridelanders and the ferezans, the cheetahs tried not to run too fast as they would have easily left the lions behind. The afternoon's sunlight was dim as the sky was covered with dark gray clouds. The warriors of two nations had only one objective, to defeat the hyenas once and for all.

A hyena was hiding behind a set of rocks, nearby the Outland's limits, barely seeing the hordes of cheetahs and lions from the distance, he then hurried into the Outlands, towards the lines of hyenas that were already receiving words from Juzare in the great defile.

"Brothers..!" Juzare exclaimed solemnly, standing with his paws firm over a rocky mound before his legions. "…sisters! Children of the Pride Lands! Today, we'll bring down our oppressors!" Laughs of battle were heard. "The Pride Lands will be ours! And their rulers shall fall!"

"Captain!" The hyena that had spotted the Pride Land's army arrived in a hurry, going up the mound to get next to Juzare. "They're coming!"

Juzare nodded at him with determination, same glare he then gave to the legions. "Honor the captain's strategy! Hide and ambush!" He commanded. "This goes for Jazanu!"

"For Jazanu!" All of the hyenas exclaimed.

"At your positions…now!" Juzare ordered, the hyenas split in several groups, running into the cracks, getting in the gorges, hiding as their new captain told them. Juzare was now alone. "Where in the world is my second in command?" He spoke to himself and let out an angry sigh. "Jinobe!" He exclaimed.

Jinobe gasped, his ear twitched when hearing his name, he was hiding in a gorge, so he took a few steps to the front and poked his head out the less he could, seeing Juzare at the distance. He lowered his head and shook it. He thought that maybe he could manage to deceive Juzare by making up an excuse for the bodies, it was risky, but he liked the idea of being the king's second in command, so he just took a deep breath, then exhaled. "Alright." He murmured to himself and walked out the gorge.

"Jinobe!" Juzare started to get more impatient. "Jinobe where are you?!" He turned and saw his second in command walking towards him.

Jinobe was glancing down while slowly approaching his king. He finally reached the mound and walked up towards him. "My king…" He bowed down his head, looking into his eyes. "I'm sorry."

Juzare grunted. "Of course you are, where were you?" He gasped when remembering the task he had given to him. "Oh….Jazanu's heir, did you…take care of that?"

Jinobe tried to make up the answer Juzare wanted to hear. "It's done, my king. Jakir is dead, so his mother and Jenuk."

Juzare looked at him with a straight face. "I want to see them." He smirked very subtly.

Jinobe lowered his head a bit, looking away from his king. "I'm sorry, my king, but I couldn't retrieve the bodies."

Juzare growled. "Why?" He got closer to him with menacing eyes.

Jinobe thought for a moment, a long moment, even more from his perception. "They fell off a cliff." He responded. "Near the border."

Juzare switched his gaze from him to the future battlefield, walking by him and sitting down, glaring at the canyons, the gorges and the cracks, as well as the dark gray sky. "I see." He said with a serious tone, Jinobe was backing away, expecting the worst. Juzare let out a brief, subtle chuckle. "Well done, Jinobe." He walked down the mound. Jinobe felt a great relief, then he followed Juzare. "Now that you've proven your loyalty, and effectiveness, I'll leave half of the legions to you. I'm leading the rest for this battle, the pride landers are coming and we must have all of our forces ready."

"Sure, my king." Jinobe replied.

Juzare stopped walking right in front of a crack that led to the west canyon. "I'll take care of this side, you do with the other. The two groups will meet when the pridelanders arrive."

Jinobe nodded then bowed his head. "They don't know what awaits them."

Juzare chuckled and nodded at him. "Go, and ready your warriors."

The lions and cheetahs were rapidly approaching the first canyons of the Outlands, the cheetahs were slowing down their speed purposely to stay in line with the lions. "Till the Pride Lands end!" Kion roared strongly along with his sister, followed by the rest of the lions. Several chirrups of battle were heard after so. Kion looked at Kiara, they nodded at each other with eyes of determination.

"Remember the plan!" Kiara looked back at their army then at the front again. "Alright…now!" She started to separate from Kion and the legions that followed him, her own followed her and they headed to a great crack that led to the inside of the west canyon.

Juzare and his legions were gathered in one of the main tunnels of the west canyon. His nose twitched, he raised an eyebrow and backed away a bit. "Cheetahs…" Juzare said with a frown.

"They're coming this way! We sh..!" A hyena said but was interrupted.

"Stay!" Juzare commanded. "We can deal with them."

"But the defile will get weakened, Jinobe's legions won't make it!" The same hyena approached him.

"Well who's your captain?!" Juzare threw a blow at the hyena, who laughed by the pain while rubbing his snout with his paw. "Anyone else?!" Juzare stared at his group with a daring frown, getting no response. He growled. "That's what I thought." Juzare turned back at the tunnel's dark bottom, adopting a defensive position, followed by the rest, frowning and waiting for their enemies.

Jinobe and his group of warriors were on the inside of the east canyon looking at the defile through a wide aperture. The ear of a hyena that was by him twitched. "They are here."

Jinobe nodded, with his gaze locked at the defile. "Wait. We'll ambush them just like we did the last t…" His eyes widened when spotting Kiara, the other lions and lionesses and the cheetahs running inside the caves of the opposite canyon, thanks to a couple of wide cracks that gave them away. "What the..?" He turned rapidly to look at his legions. "Group one and two, go to the other canyon to reinforce Juzare. The rest, stay with me." The two groups nodded with acceptance and hurried out of the cave.

Kion entered the defile along with his groups, all of them looking cautiously at their sides. "They'll fall over us in brief!" He gasped when seeing Jinobe's warriors heading to the west canton. "There they are! Attack!" He hurried his rush just as his fellows, the cheetahs ran normally, easily outrunning the lions.

Jinobe's hyenas spotted them, so they ran faster towards the west canyon and got in there. Some of them chose to run towards Kion and confront him and his warriors. The cheetahs were the first ones to encounter with them, the hyenas tried to evade them but as they were much faster than them, the cheetahs didn't let them pass and started to throw bites at them instead. The lions arrived a few moments later and joined the cheetahs on their battle. The hyenas attacked each lion by two, but as they were much stronger they dealt with them easily with violent shakes, fatal blows and deadly bites. The cheetahs used their speed advantage and easily avoided the hyenas' tackles and jaws, replying with quick, continuous bites and blows that didn't stop until they got killed. The skirmish was brief as it was a reduced number of hyenas. "They went this way, my king!" A lioness told Kion while gesturing at the gorge that led to the canyon.

Kion threw a final bite at the neck of a hyena that was still moving on the ground, killing her instantly. "Follow them! But only a few. We still need to get the defile covered." He looked at the lions and cheetahs who were closer to him and gestured at the ones who were nearer to the canyon. The lioness nodded and ran towards the gorge, followed by some others of her kind and cheetahs. Kion started to walk by the group that stayed with him, studying the cracks, apertures and gorges around them. "They'll appear in any moment." He growled while puncturing the ground with his claws. "Stay alert."


	20. Episode 20: Sangria

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 20: Sangria

Jinobe was watching over Kion, the other lions and the cheetahs through the aperture of the cave, his warriors stood behind, ready to hear orders. "Groups three and four…attack." Jinobe said firmly. They left the cave in a hurry, running through the canyon's inner tunnels and gorges to reach the defile, laughing with commitment and thirst for battle. Jinobe stood on the same spot, just waiting for the battle to begin.

Kion's ear twitched. "They're coming." He turned facing the east canyon, growling while adopting a combat position. The glares of the warriors were locked at the gorge that led to the canyon. Sounds of laughs started to sound, increasingly getting louder, the fiery eyes of the hyenas began to show up in the gorge's darkness. Jinobe's warriors finally exited the gorge, running towards Kion and the others.

Kion let out a powerful roar that almost made the hyenas to slow down the rush, and along with his warriors, he began to run rapidly towards them. The cheetahs were the first to approach them, jumping at them with their jaws open, bitting them with strength and rapidness, chirruping and growling while dodging their attacks. Kion pushed a hyena strongly with his head and sent him towards other two hyenas, making him to collide with them. The three hyenas fell to the ground. He then approached them and started to kill them with several bites.

In the dimly lighted tunnel of the west canyon, Juzare's and Kiara's warriors were having a similar fight, with almost the same development. Kiara was fighting Juzare herself, evading his quick, violent bites, replying with constant blows and bites of her. The cheetahs threw quick, rather weak bites at the hyenas while running among them, but as they were too many, the hyenas got weakened enough to let the lions and lionesses throw the fatal attacks, biting their necks and sides deeply, puncturing their faces with their sharp claws.

Juzare felt how the blood went down from the wound on his left eyelid to the fur of his lower jaw. He growled at Kiara with desperation and hatred. "You can't stop us!" His steps backwards were almost unconscious.

Kiara growled at him while taking slow, hostile steps towards him. "Are you scared, Juzare?" She noticed how his legs trembled.

Juzare's ears twitched recurrently by his warrior's laughs of pain and demise. "It's easy…isn't it?!"

"What?!" Kiara growled louder.

"To be the strong ones! The ones who never feel hunger!" Juzare exclaimed, stopping his steps. "The ones who thrive and live with no worries!" The clearness of the tears that came from his cut eyelid mixed with the red of his blood. He chuckled while sobbing. "It's easy…"

"As it was for Jasiri to kill those cubs?!" Kiara grunted at him while frowning.

Juzare chuckled mockingly. "Jasiri? She didn't have the guts to do what Jazanu could... to make you suffer…to hurt you…to set things as they should be."

"What do you mean?" Kiara inquired aggressively.

"Jasiri was weak!" Juzare exclaimed. "But she is gone, and a new reign has arised…mine!"

"They were just children…what did they do to you?!" Kiara exclaimed.

"What would they have done to us? You mean?" Juzare let out a chuckle. "They would have stepped on us, marginated us, our offspring and theirs would have been living in the same shortage you forced us to live in!" Juzare looked at her with a grim smirk. "And I'll go after yours…I'll make them suffer..." He started to laugh. "I'll tear their skin apart and cover the ground with their blood…oh it's gonna be so much fu…"

Kiara roared angrily and jumped at him with her open jaws, two of Jinobe's reinforcements approached them and tackled Kiara, she had aimed at Juzare's neck, but by the hyenas' tackle she bit his front legs, making him to scream by the intense pain, laughing with tears and blood. Kiara had gotten into her paws rapidly and didn't let go off his legs, she bit harder instead, crushing them with her sharp teeth, the two hyenas were biting her sides to force her to let go, but she resisted the strength of their jaws. One of the hyenas stopped bitting her. "The captain is down! Come!" The hyena exclaimed at a group of his equals who immediately ran towards the situation.

Kiara knew she was about to get cornered, so she finally let go off Juzare's now destroyed legs and with a violent shake she got the hyena's jaws off her. Kiara ran away from Juzare to go deal with more hyenas, being chased by the ones that had just arrived to confront her as well as the other pair. Juzare was laying over the dark, rocky ground, over a pond of blood that flowed from his legs. He was sighing intermittently, crying almost statically, his gaze was lost on the darkness before him. "Captain!" The voice of a female hyena sounded like a distant echo for him. He felt how she was slowly carrying him over her back. The chirrups, roars and laughs started to fade away, the darkness persisted, as well as the pain, on the outside and on the inside.

Kion threw a hyena with his jaws, killing him as he smashed onto the rocky wall at their side. The cheetahs weren't breaking a sweat, their fast movements and bites helped greatly, for the lions and lionesses to give the final strike at the hurt hyenas. Jinobe was still watching inside the cave, frightened, seeing how the army was being decimated. The impulse that could bring him to join his comrades on the battle didn't show up, the fear was keeping him there, hidden. "We lost." He said with a broken voice.

"Do as I do!" Kion commanded and a group of lions followed him, he ran towards the clash that was happening between the hyenas and the cheetahs, and when getting there, he started to throw quick, strong bites at every hyena he encountered with and kept running. The warriors behind him did the same. The strategy was applied continuously, and sooner than they thought, Kion and his group managed to kill all of the hyenas at the defile, not without some casualties here and there. "Now we go help Kiara!" He gestured at the west canyon, the cheetahs and lions before him nodded and ran towards the gorge that led there, getting inside quickly. Kion entered last. Jinobe was running inside the dark tunnels of the east canyon, almost unconsciously, ignoring the shame he had started to feel, just wanting to go elsewhere, far from the Outlands, as his life was the only thing that mattered to him at that confusing moment.

The battle in the west canyon was also coming to an end, but the hyenas had the advantage there as they knew the paths, levels and passages better than their own paws, they took sudden jumps at the cheetahs and lions from paths above them and brought them down with collective, deadly bites. "To the walls! To the walls!" Kiara commanded and walked backwards to get against the rocky walls, the others did the same, she knew that way the hyenas wouldn't be able to surprise them that easily, but it also made them more susceptible to getting cornered.

Kion's group arrived with roars and chirrups of battle, followed by him, who let out the loudest of them all, the hyenas then left Kiara and her warriors to go deal with Kion's. The strategy didn't change, the cheetahs went after the hyenas with their fast paws and bit them several times, also pushing them on their way, the lions and lionesses then tackled them and killed them with their strong jaws. Kiara's group joined them, and the laughs of death began to outnumber the chirrups and roars of the same kind. That battle delayed a bit more to end, with many casualties from Kion and Kiara's side, but with victory nonetheless. Juzare's legions had been defeated.

Kion, Kiara, the cheetahs and the lions were slowly recovering from exhaustion, inhaling and exhaling repeatedly. "My king…" A tired lion approached Kion and sat down next to him. "…what will we do with the others?" He referred to the hyenas that weren't part of the legions, the common families of the Outlands, who were the vast majority.

"Leave them." Kion said. "We have stated our word today." He got into his paws and walked towards Kiara, followed by the lion. "Whatever they do, wherever they go…it's not our problem anymore."

"Kion." Kiara said when her brother sat down next to her. "Jasiri… it wasn't her."

Kion raised an eyebrow and looked at her with confusion. "What?" He thought briefly. "Then who?"

"Jazanu." Kiara sighed and shook her head, then looked at him. "I'm not sure, but, I think she was expelled or… maybe killed."

Kion stood silent for a moment, then he glared away from her, looking at the hyenas' corpses as well as the ones of their own army. "Whatever happened to her... I don't care." He looked at Kiara with a straight face. "We won. It's all what matters now."


	21. Episode 21: Nightly

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 21: Nightly

The brightness of the stars softly illuminated the splashing water in the calm pool of Ungari through the skylight, the foam from the waterfalls traveled slowly over the clear water, disappearing gradually. The laughs of the three cubs, Keru, Zale and Emba kept Kovu in a peaceful feeling, he watched over them from a cliff. He saw Ari laying on one of the opposite cliffs, with a sad glare. Kovu got into his paws and started to walk over the path that led there, surrounding the pool area.

Ari saw her brother and cousins playing in the water, hitting it with their paws, wetting their faces with splashes and tiny waves they made with their front legs. A subtle smirk appeared on her face, a brief hope that faded almost instantly.

"Ari?" Kovu approached her.

"Yes, uncle?" Ari's eyes were lost on the scene.

"The boys are having fun…why don't you join them?" Kovu asked with worry and laid down next to her, looking into her eyes.

Ari kept her glare on the pool. "I just don't feel like it." She sighed and rested her head over her front legs.

"Ari." Kovu said. "You want to talk?"

Ari remained silent for a moment. "No." She said with a broken voice.

Kovu noticed the lump in her throat. "Hey, it's okay." He got his lower jaw over her head, stroking her gently. "It's fine, Ari." She started to cry, the tears escaped from her closed eyes, the sound of her broken sobs mixed with the sound of the falling water. Kovu was glancing at his sons and nephew, enjoying the scene while reassuring Ari. He began to remember some verses that Kiara used to whisper to him when his nights were hostile, dark and agitated. "_The wind claims for its place in a blue night, it sings with no cease, and the crickets are its companion, under tall grass that grows aside mountains afar…"_

Kion, Kiara and their army were returning home, arriving at the Pride Lands with roars and chirrups of celebration. Kion had a serious glare as well as his sister, but the feeling of victory was true among them. The legions dissipated, each cheetah, lion and lioness returned to their respective refuges.

"_Lonely trees that breathe in the savanna, under stars reunited on the place beyond dreams. The brave shall sleep there, the cold won't reach them, and the lonely trees will be their __shelter...__"_

Jasiri and Janja were walking towards the moon over the dry grass, Jasiri was carrying Jara over her back, as Janja carried Jaye. While taking calm, unsure steps to the unknown horizon, the two hyenas rested their heads against the other's, glancing at the light of the moon.

"_Don't be afraid, as the night has come in peace. The moon shares its gift with you and your loved ones, and the stars give you their best shines..."_

Jinobe was trembling, laying under the thin branches of a tree, having his eyes closed, trying hard to find sleep, as the thoughts were loud in his head, the crack of the branches and the whistles of the wind were just silence for him.

"_Through distant rivers, the water brings a flower, bright as fire, yellow as the sun, soft as a feather. Smells like home, the sweetest of scents. The heat of fire in the smallest of caves, fur rejoices as the night promises peace..."_

In a dark, rocky cave, Juzare was sleeping, with his front legs resting over a set of leaves. The female hyena was laying at his side, looking at his tired, injured face. Their head tops rubbed the rock of the low ceiling.

"_Sleep, sweet child. Storms don't reach this place. Let your ears be caressed by the lost words of the wind. Sleep, sweet child…The wind claims for its place in a blue night."_

Kion and Kiara were in the cave, sleeping, Kiara on the spot she used to share with Kovu, and Kion was laying next to Rani, with his head rested against hers. He felt Rani was moving and groaning. "Love?" Kion said with somnolence.

Rani slowly opened her eyes and looked at her mate, blinking a couple of times. "Kion." She received a grateful lick from him.

"Oh, Rani." Kion chuckled with happiness. "I missed you so much."

Rani was confused, she felt a subtle yet noticeable ache on her side, remembering what had happened, letting out a sigh. "For how l…" She yawned. "For how long was I unconscious?"

"Several days." Kion chuckled. "But…" He stroked her face with his. "For me…it felt like a lifetime."

Rani blushed and laughed softly. "Well, I think I'll have to stay away from battle, just for a while." She groaned when feeling another ache.

Kion smiled at her. "That will be easy, Rani. We defeated them."

Rani gasped slightly. "You mean..?"

Kion nodded. "The hyenas won't trouble these lands anymore."

Rani thought for a moment. "Jasiri, is she..?"

Kion sighed. "I don't know, she wasn't at the battle. Kiara said she was expelled or…well..." He sighed. "…something else."

Rani thought for a moment then laid her head over her front legs, sighing and closing her eyes. "Kion, can you wake up the children?" She got her head comfortable over the fur of her legs. "I have to see them."

Kion lowered his head, trying to answer the most gentle way he could. "They're safe, Rani." He said, resting his head over her neck. "They were in great danger. Kovu took them to Ungari. That's where they are now. Keru…" He yawned. "…and Zale are there as well." He licked her. "It was the right thing to do, love. Until the threats are history, they must grow there with their uncle and cousins. But rather sooner than later…" He let out another yawn. "They will return home."

Rani understood the measures that her mate had taken to protect her cubs, but sadness still invaded her heart. "Wasn't there another way?" She said with a broken voice.

Kion had his gaze locked on the rocky wall just before him, darkened by the night. "No, darling." He replied. "There wasn't."

A silence that hadn't been present for ages had taken over the Outlands, no laugh, word or breathe could be heard between its canyons and gorges. Until several sniffs and careful steps began to come out from hidden, secret cracks that led to the underground. The stars of the night dazzled the canine eyes as an uncommon, white fire. "They're gone." Dogo said, looking at his fellow jackals over his back.

"Could they?" One of the jackals said, approaching Dogo. "What if it's a trap?"

Dogo made his nose twitch, trying to reach for the subtlest scent of hyena. "No, Gorger. It was long ago when they thought our presence was nil." He thought for a moment and looked at Gorger. "Our plan has succeeded." He began to walk away from his fellows, who gradually grew in number as there were jackals still getting out from the depths, through the crack between the defile, hidden among two uneven mounds. He suddenly stopped walking. "Finally, the Pride Landers have expelled our enemy from these lands!" He exclaimed. "The Outlands have returned to their rightful owners as in the old times!" Several barks and howls echoed on the defile. "We hid, survived and waited, in darkness, in the cold of unmerciful, long nights!" He turned and looked at his kind. "Reirei, our previous ruler, she dreamed with this day! A land for jackals, and only jackals to thrive in! We are finally here, my queen." He looked into the sky and let out a strong howl, followed by the rest of the jackals. "For Reirei!" They howled again. "For our ancestors!" Stronger howls came. "For Kion! For all the Pride Landers, as benefactors of our new rise!" More howling echoed in the Outlands.

"What about that?" Janja gestured at small cave that was ahead, the cold of the midnight was getting stronger and they needed a refuge.

"It…" Jasiri exhaled, her breath was revealed by the cold. "It looks decent to me." They headed there, quickening their steps over the short, occasional grass. Before Jasiri could take a step into the cave, Janja stopped her.

"Wait." Janja said. "I better check first." He crouched and lowered down his son, then Jasiri carried him over her back next to his sister. He began to walk towards the dark inside of the cave, getting out of his mate's sight for a moment. Jasiri took a couple steps backwards instinctively, there was a high chance that the cave was already taken. After about a minute, Janja poked his head out of the cave's darkness. "It's fine." He gestured at the inside, making Jasiri to walk in, still with careful steps. Both of them walked until they reached the bottom of the cave, quite rapidly as it was a very small one. Jasiri gently lowered down her cubs over the warm rocky ground, letting them to continue with their sleep. Jasiri yawned and laid down, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. Janja laid next to her. Their eyes could only see the dark gray rock of the cave covered in more darkness, the entrance was far enough to hide the starlight. "Good night." Janja said, getting no response from Jasiri. "Love?" Jasiri had her eyes open with a nostalgic glare, lost in the darkness. "Jasiri." Janja spoke with a louder voice to get her attention.

Jasiri gasped, then she looked at Janja briefly. "Sorry." She lowered her gaze. "I…I was just thinking."

Janja got closer to her, resting his head against hers. "In what?"

Jasiri sighed. "Everything."

"You could be…" Janja yawned. "More specific."

Jasiri stood silent for a moment. "It's so strange, how things can change so fast, without warning." She replied. "Well, I should've paid more attention to him, to Jazanu."

"What happened is not your fault, Jasiri." Janja licked her. "You are an excellent leader, you did everything for them."

Jasiri chuckled with disbelief. "And yet, we are here." She shook her head.

"Hey, we are together in this, right?" Janja said reassuringly, getting no response from her. "Remember what I told you when we became mates?"

Jasiri yawned. "That you love me more than anything?" She chuckled slightly.

Janja shared the same chuckle. "Aside of that." He licked her again. "I remember it well, Jasiri. I told you that no matter the times, bright or dark, cold or warm, I would always be at your side." He looked into her eyes, which had started to get teary. "Jasiri." He stroked her face with his snout. "Do you remember?"

Jasiri stood silent, then let out a sob. "Janja." She closed her eyes, letting a couple of tears to fall. "I'm sorry."

Janja raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

Jasiri sobbed. "For failing. I failed you…" She began to cry. "I failed my children…I failed everyone."

"Jasiri." Janja adopted a straight tone. "There wasn't too much you could do, and you know it."

Jasiri began to cry more deeper. "Still…" She sobbed. "Now thanks to me you're forced to sleep here..." Her voice was broken. "Far from home."

"My love." Janja rested his head over hers. "You are my home. Not only mine, but the kids' too." He said reassuringly. "And you don't have to carry that weight alone." He yawned and closed his eyes. "I'm here. And I'll never leave you."


	22. Episode 22: Succour

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 22: Succour

Juzare was waking up, welcomed by the cold air of the morning, the sunshine that entered through the pair of holes over the cave illuminated it greatly. The female hyena had taken them both to that new cave in the middle of the night. Juzare opened his eyes slowly, blinking a couple of times, trying to get into his four paws to stretch, but he could only lift his hind legs as his front legs didn't respond. He let out a gasp of frustration and used all of his strength to try to move his front legs, but still nothing happened, they stayed the same way over the now dry leaves. Juzare let out a growl of impotence then yelled with anger and desperation, lowering his hind legs, retaking his previous position, looking at the cave's entrance, narrowing his eyes by the brightness of the sun, the shadow of an upcoming figure began to show up, revealing to be the hyena after a couple more steps. She was holding a dead meerkat with her jaws. The female hyena approached Juzare and lowered down what would be their first meal of the day. She looked at him with a smile. "Good morning."

Juzare looked at her with a straight face then looked away. "Who are you?" He said with a rather broken voice.

"Oh, sorry." She bowed her head. "I'm Javara…captain."

Juzare sighed with disdain. "Captain…is the last of names I'd like to hear now."

"Sorry." Javara lowered down her gaze. "Juzare." She moved the meerkat with her snout, getting it closer to him. "I…I thought some breakfast would make you feel better."

Juzare kept looking away, he briefly glanced at the meerkat then looked back at the reddish rock of the cave. "It's all yours." He rested his head over his legs.

Javara looked at him with pity. "Uhm…" She noticed the tear that was forming in the corner of his eye. "You need to eat, ca…Juzare." Javara insisted.

"For what?" Juzare replied with a broken voice.

"Well, you lost a lot of blood on the battle, so I'm sure it won't make any harm." Javara answered. "At least try."

"No." Juzare said coldly. "As I said, it's all yours, uhm, Jarava."

"Javara." She corrected.

Juzare sighed, letting out a subtle growl, closing his eyes and lowering his head again. "Javara…of course." He yawned.

Javara kept looking at him, with worry and pity, she thought it was better to leave him alone at the moment, so she took the meerkat with her jaws and walked to the other side of the cave to eat there. She glared at Juzare over her back then sighed and kept eating.

Juzare was resting, but his thoughts were still active, reliving the moment of the battle when Kiara destroyed his legs, a terrible conclusion to his brief reign over the Outlands, also seeing it as a conclusion to his life, as now he felt everything was worthless. He thought about Javara, accepting she was being kind and compassionate with him, but still finding it redundant, as for him it made no sense to aid a lost cause like him.

In the middle of a dream, a great pain began to hurt his legs, the grass where he was laying and the blue sky faded out into a blurry, dark and gray toned landscape, flames surrounded his legs all of a sudden, with a fearful gasp he started to run, trying to find a way to extinguish the fire, groaning by the intense pain he felt. Juzare was looking for a body of water, but there was only that gray, blurry matter. The pain got completely unbearable, he dropped himself to the ground, which was ice cold. He stayed there, laying down, trembling, not even noticing that the fire on his legs had disappeared.

With a gasp, Juzare woke up from that dream, finding out Javara was placing new leaves under his legs, also covering them a bit. "What…" He said with somnolence. The light of the cave was dimmer, the sun of the outside had hidden behind a cloudy sky.

"Elitas." Javara said before picking more leaves from the pile she had gathered.

"Eli…" Juzare yawned.

Javara chuckled a bit and opened her mouth to let the leaves fall over his legs. "They reduce pain." She smirked, looking into his eyes. Juzare felt how the freshness of the leaves began to deal with the strong pain he had been feeling. He stood silent, just feeling the effect of the leaves, glaring at her with an almost inexpressive face. "So?" Javara inquired. "Feeling better?" Juzare didn't respond at first, but he couldn't deny the fact that the pain was indeed decreasing. He let out a sigh and nodded. Javara smiled at him again. "Good." She turned and began to walk away from him.

Juzare groaned. "Where..?" He looked at her with a narrow glance. "Where are you going now?

Javara looked at him over her back. "To get more food." She responded. "You haven't eaten anything."

"Thanks…" Juzare glanced away. "But save it for yourself, I'm not hungry." He said coldly.

Javara raised an eyebrow. "But your wounds, you have to eat well for them t…" She was interrupted by Juzare's sudden growl.

"I said no!" Juzare exclaimed with a broken voice, he sobbed and laid his head over his wounded legs. "No…"

Javara started to approach him. "Juzare." She sat down by him, wanting him to speak out his mind.

Juzare sobbed, a pair of tears traveled over his face's fur. "Leave me here, go away." He was crying with deep bitterness. "Don't waste your time with me… I'm dead already."

Javara lowered her gaze. "No, Juzare." She laid down next to him. "I'm not leaving."

Juzare sobbed. "It's over, I can't walk…I can't fight…" He kept crying. "It's all over."

"You breathe…" Javara stroked his neck with her forehead. "You speak…" She rested her head on him. "Your heart beats, Juzare."

"That doesn't matter." Juzare's crying continued, softer an calmer. "I'm gone." He sobbed. "I'm gone forever."

"But you're still young." Javara said reassuringly. "There's a…" She yawned. "…long way ahead." Javara closed her eyes. "Things will be better."

Juzare sighed with sadness and frustration. "How?" He sobbed.

"Just…" Javara started to get asleep already. "Believe me."

Juzare's glare was focused on her peaceful face of rest. He closed his tearful eyes, the lump in his throat began to vanish, the calmness of the moment brought him into another deep nap, same as Javara, who had gotten exhausted by the hunting and gathering she had gone through.

It was raining outside, the drops of water got in the cave through the holes, but the water that entered never reached them, as it traveled directly towards the cave's entrance, just passing by the two sleeping hyenas, their ears heard the calm falling of the raindrops, the ones on the outside and on the inside, the gentle cold of the rain reached them accompanied by a subtle, fresh breeze. Their dreams weren't empty, just silent, static, Juzare, influenced by the sounds of the rain, dreamed with large rivers running through the Outlands, and Javara dreamed with the stars, she was sitting over a small mound, where she fit precisely, grassy, tall, so tall that she could poke the stars with the tip of her nose, making them to move gently.


	23. Episode 23: Inverse

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 23: Inverse

Darkness still covered the Outlands in the early morning, the cave where Dogo and his mate where sleeping was almost pitch dark, with the dim light of the far stars entering through the cave's narrow entrance. Dogo was awake, having found enough rest by the peaceful night he spent in his new homeland. He glared at his mate and hesitated a bit to wake her up, noticing she was subtly smiling while sleeping, something he hadn't seen on her for long time. Dogo gently stroked her face, resting his head against hers. "Garia." He spoke softly, enough to make her ear twitch, she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him, chuckling quietly and licking his face.

"It's still early, Dogo." Garia argued, briefly gesturing at the place's general darkness and letting out a long yawn.

Dogo chuckled. "I know, but…" He sighed peacefully. "I just wanted to talk with you in our first morning at our new home."

Garia let out another brief laugh. "And what do you want to talk about?" She yawned again, closing her eyes and resting her head between her front paws.

"I…I don't know, actually." Dogo replied, trying to think in something remotely interesting for his mate to maintain the conversation. "Uhm, maybe you should begin."

"Oh…" Garia said between chuckles. "I can't think off anything, dear, maybe we…" She sighed. "…shall sleep a bit more."

"Come on." Dogo pleaded, stroking her face. "Just tell me anything you want. I'm not tired."

Garia sighed. "Alright." She finally accepted Dogo's request. "What you think about the cave?"

Dogo found her conversation topic a bit too trivial. "Well…" Or maybe not that trivial. "It's warmer, it's…" He looked a bit at the place. "…bigger."

"Comfy…" Garia described. "Since when could you say that about your home, Dogo?"

Dogo got thoughtful. "Since..." He gave more thought to his reply. "Since never, actually." Dogo let out a single, silent chuckle. "It's strange, but, I thought I would miss those deep tunnels tonight, don't ask me why."

"Nostalgia or something?" Garia inquired.

"Yes." Dogo answered. "But, that didn't happen. Not a single time."

"I knew I wouldn't miss that place. It was dark and cold." Garia opined. "It was very cold. I'll never know for how much longer my bones would've resisted to that."

"Well…" Dogo licked her. "What matters is where we are now."

Garia sighed while chuckling peacefully. "Thanks to you." She licked him back. "My king."

Dogo got thoughtful while looking at his mate's face. "Not thanks to me, actually." He said. "They did most of the work."

"The pridelanders?" Garia inquired.

Dogo nodded. "Basically, I just led you all the way here. That's all."

"So?" Garia stroked his face with hers. "You're still our ruler. You took the decision to finally take us here. Many were scared to leave."

Dogo thought on her comment, letting out a sigh of concur. "I guess you're right."

"I am right, Dogo." Garia licked him again. "You're a born leader. Reirei would be very proud of you."

Dogo reflected on her affirmation, smirking while getting his face closer to hers. "Still, I kind of want to thank him in some way."

"Kion?" Garia asked.

"Mhm." Dogo replied.

Garia yawned. "Got something in mind?"

Dogo sighed. "I don't know, maybe some dinner, like, a big dinner. Something to show our gratitude, or at least mine." He closed his eyes. "It was a long time ago when I realized they weren't the real enemy."

Garia got thoughtful by her mate's idea. "We could do that." She opined, getting Dogo's attention. "When the sun fully rises, I'll get some with me to hunt all morning. And you could go to the Pride Lands, invite the king and bring him here."

"Bedor told me they're now ruling in some kind of…uhm…" Dogo tried to remember the exact words of his fellow. "…council." Some words that the same jackal had told him came to his mind. "Also, he said there was an exile, a great exile."

Garia raised an eyebrow. "You think that includes us?"

Dogo sighed. "Technically, they didn't know we were still around."

"Good point." Garia said. "Still, you shouldn't go alone."

Dogo chuckled. "Of course not!" He kept chuckling along with her mate. "I'll bring half a legion with me, that's all. I want them to know we only seek for peace."

"That's the plan for today, then." Garia said. "But the sun is still hidden." She got herself comfortable over the warm rocky surface. "Rest, Dogo." She let out a long yawn of great tiredness. "The sun…it's st…" She fell asleep without completing the phrase.

Dogo was glaring at her, admiring the looks of her peaceful, worry free face. He rested his head over hers, sighing and closing his eyes again, finding sleep almost right away.

The terrain was arid, sandy and hot, the sun was already giving the first rays of the day, and as it mixed with the lava that ran through different, interconnected streams all over the region, cold was a word unknown there. The different animals that lived in that place aided themselves from such uncomfortable qualities with the help of many rocky hills, paths and mounds that were there. The majority of these animals were lions, but there were also cheetahs, sand cats, vultures, rhinos, among many other groups that had been led there by one single lion, Baturu. The light of the sun entered through the aperture of the king's cave, spacious, comfortable and far enough from the ashes, the lava and the fumes that continuously covered the ground. Baturu was walking in circles, thinking about the thing that was always in his mind, to dethrone Mufasa's heirs, not only that, he pictured himself dethroning every sovereign in all the known regions. For him, there was only one animal that deserved a nobility title. He was a big lion, his fur was almond colored while his mane was a mix between tones of orange, gold and black, a rare yet beautiful combination. His eyes always reflected power, confidence and pride, capable of bringing fear to the bravest of glances.

When he finally let go the anticipated thoughts of his mind, he let out a yawn and started to walk out towards the cave's exit, looking firmly at the front, as he always did. He exited the cave and sat down to contemplate his domains, as he did every morning. Baturu then spotted a young male lion that was looking at him with admiration from the top of a smaller mound, who got down from there with a rush and headed to the path that led to Baturu's cave, which surrounded the rocky hill that contained it. The lion arrived hurriedly, his mane was still modest, being dark brown while his fur was golden, large bangs covered almost half of his face. "My king." The lion said, approaching Baturu and bowing his head at him, recovering some breath.

Baturu had in that lion a worthy, committed element for his cause, who always greeted him the same way, every day, not missing a single one. Baturu smirked at him with thankfulness and a arrogant glare. He walked by him and the two lions started to walk down the path around the hill. "Denji." Baturu said suddenly. "Anything I shall know?"

"Well, I've heard rumors about hyenas wandering alone out there." Denji replied, Baturu made a face of disgust.

Baturu growled. "Hyenas..." He spoke with contempt.

Denji waited a bit to keep talking. "What should we do?"

The two lions reached the end of the path, now walking with more cautiousness among the fumes and the streams of lava. "We'll destroy them."

Denji looked away for a moment, thoughtful, then he glared back at his king. "My king, maybe...maybe we can, well, recruit them." He spoke with careful words. "I mean, they're a big in numbers."

Baturu kept his face straight, stopping his steps all of a sudden, making Denji a bit nervous. "No." He said firmly. "We've accepted all kinds of animals in our plan… but no hyenas, not them." Baturu looked at Denji. "Is that trash far away from here?"

Denji shook his head. "Not too far, I believe we can approach them by night if we leave this afternoon."

Baturu chuckled. "Good." He resumed his walking along with Denji. "So be it."


	24. Episode 24: Indulgence

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 24: Indulgence

Kion and Rani were walking together nearby Pride Rock, mealtime had ended so there were sleeping families all around them, the sun of the afternoon was at its peak. The two mates shared a peaceful silence for several steps over the quiet grass and the small pebbles, until Kion let out a somewhat problematic thought. "How much days like this can we expect?" He made Rani to look at him. "Calm times are often the presage of troubled ones, aren't they?"

"Or maybe the other way around." Rani opined. "The sun rises after the storm, always." Rani stroked his neck with her forehead, getting closer to him.

Kion chuckled very subtly. "But it will rain again, no matter what. That's what I always fear, Rani. And that's what always happens, and it will. Baturu is still out there, planning, wanting everything his sight can offer."

"Yes." Rani said. "But he isn't here right now." She spoke with a reassuring tone. "Now we can enjoy."

Kion thought she had left the phrase incomplete. "Enjoy what?"

Rani looked at the blue sky, filled with enormous white clouds. "Enjoy."

"For how long?" Kion inquired.

"The most we can." Rani responded. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow." She looked at his mate. "Or tonight."

"I do, we will have dinner then sleep." Kion said quite jokingly.

Rani chuckled. "Maybe." She kept her gaze on his. "Only maybe, but you know what's real? What's true now?"

Kion raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Rani breathed in, smelling the freshness of the air that caressed the savanna while glaring around, looking at the sleeping lions, the couples sharing the cover of the trees with their cubs laying over their backs and sides. "This won't be tomorrow, when Baturu's legions arrive." She said. "But it is today, Kion." Rani suddenly stopped walking and laid down, hesitantly followed by Kion. A deep silence happened between them, the strongest noise they heard was the wind passing by their ears. Kion knew what Rani was talking about but had never learned how to put it into practice, the future was always in his head, sometimes the shadows of the past were also with him, but the light of the present was something difficult for him to see clearly. Baturu was still in his mind, also assumptions of how his children would look like when they reach adulthood, how would he feel, how would they feel, more importantly, who would they be. "Still?" Rani suddenly asked, having already rested her head between her paws.

Kion gasped a bit, looking down at her. "What?"

Rani laughed silently. "Don't worry." She said, yawning peacefully. "It's still daytime."

Kion saw her statement a bit too obvious but immediately knew she was talking about something else. He looked around him and saw a pair of families sleeping next to a pile of zebra and antelope remains. Kion glared at her, noticing the gentle way her breathing moved the grass before her face. He started to lower his head until it reached the ground. The clouds moved slowly by the far winds, the sun illuminated their contour, the uneasy thoughts began to blur, his eyelids were getting heavier, he lowered down his head constantly, resisting to an upcoming nap. Before he could finally give up to his acquired tiredness, his ear twitched when hearing fast steps from afar. He gasped and stood up immediately. "Rani, get up."

Rani did as Kion said, having also heard the steps, the curved end of the horizon ahead prevented them to see who was coming, Kion backed away a couple of steps, while Rani just maintained a surveillant glare. Several canine figures started to show up. "Wait…" She narrowed her eyes. "…are those..?"

"Jackals." Kion said rather confused, as he hadn't seen one since he was a teenager. The figures got clearer, confirming the monarchs suspicions. Kion started to growl instinctively while getting his claws firm over the ground.

Rani wasn't as nervous as her mate, but she still got in a defensive position. "What could they want?" She said murmuring.

"So strange…" Kion left his mate's question unanswered. "…I thought they were, well, extinct." It was a word greatly unused among the animals, it only had an hypothetical connotation.

"So, the exile?" Rani inquired while raising an eyebrow and looking at him.

"Well, obviously they weren't present so, uhm…" Kion was as confused as her, every animal knew about the decree. He sighed rather frustrated. "Let's just find out what they want and then we'll see."

They recognized Dogo when he and his comrades got close enough, and after a few more hurried steps, the jackals stopped running and just stood before the two lions. Kion did his best to contain his growling. Dogo looked directly into their eyes for a rather long moment, he then looked at his fellows and gestured towards the ground, making them to sit down, being him the last to do so. Kion and Rani saw this as a sign of a peaceful encounter so they did the same. "King Kion." Dogo said with sympathy. "Queen Rani." He bowed his head along with the other jackals, keeping it lowered for several seconds, then they all looked back at the two pridelanders. "We can't be more grateful with you." He gave them an honest smile.

Kion raised an eyebrow, having no idea what he was talking about. "It's…nothing?" He was very confused indeed.

Dogo laughed, knowing the two lions still hadn't heard news of them. "The Outlands are ours again, like in the ancient times." He said proudly. "Our enemies have left, forever, thanks to your brave efforts."

Kion now had a clearer idea on what Dogo was talking about, but there was a question he still wanted to ask, but Rani took the words out of his mouth. "Where were you all this time?"

Dogo delayed a bit to answer. "Hidden. Lost in the depths of the Outlands." He explained with a straight tone. "Always below them, waiting. Surviving only with what that place could offer." Dogo sighed. "Which wasn't much. We wanted to fight them ourselves, many times, but they grew in number and strength." His gaze was lost on the horizon behind Kion and Rani. "We couldn't stand a chance." Dogo lowered his gaze a bit. "Reirei." He chuckled softly with nostalgia. "Mother. She wanted this since she was a cub, at least that's what she always told me." Dogo got immersed in his memories for a moment then gazed back at the two lions with a thankful smile. "But you stood a chance." He got a bit closer to them, maintaining his glance of gratefulness. "If only she was here."

Kion had no idea on how to reply, so he just responded to Dogo's statement about Reirei to keep the conversation. "I'm sorry for your loss." He remembered his parents deaths inevitably. "I'm very sorry." He gave him a nod of empathy. "I know exactly how that feels, Dogo."

Dogo was very thoughtful, he blinked a couple of times to leave those matters aside. "The past is the past, they say." He made out a smirk and focused again on Kion and Rani. "Well, let's get to the point, uhm…my mate, Garia, she is hunting right now, we want to invite you to a special dinner this afternoon, you and all your pride, your cubs…"

Kion's eyes widened by the unexpected courtesy. "Oh, that…" He looked at his mate's eyes, Rani rapidly nodded and gestured at Dogo and his companions with a subtle eye movement. Kion pretended a cough. "…it will be an honor, Dogo." He chose to leave the matter of the cubs for the future conversations at the dinner.

Dogo sighed with relief. "Great!" He spoke with a rather obvious excitement. "We'll be expecting you at sunset."

"Thanks, Dogo." Rani said with a friendly smile. "I'm sure it will be a memorable feast."

Dogo laughed. "Of course! Don't expect less." Jackals were actually known for their great hospitality with honor guests, data that at that time only the wise and the ones who had experienced it known well.

Kion chuckled friendlily. "We'll be there, Dogo." He bowed his head as a sign of respect. "I express my true gratitude, in the name of the Pride Lands and the Council."

Dogo also bowed his head. "Eat light, pridelanders." He smirked. "That's all I'm gonna say now."

Rani chuckled. "We'll do, Dogo." She smiled at him along with Kion.

Dogo nodded. "It's official, then." He kept his gaze on them for a moment then turned and started to leave, followed by the other jackals. "Don't be late, okay?"

"Don't worry, we'll be there on time." Kion responded, with a subtle yet honest smile on his face.

The short, modest regions that surrounded the Outlands had been overlooked by the hyenas ever since they lived there as they weren't used to exploring beyond their own lands, but the jackals were more curious than them, also, Reirei knew about several paths that led to those regions, knowledge she had given to her son, Dogo. Garia and the rest of the jackals were hunting at an oasis that was surrounded by tall, reddish rocky walls, a flat rocky ceiling of the same tone covered the intense sunlight that only manage to went through a couple of cracks on the red rock, creating rays of light that adorned the tiny lake in the middle, which was constantly fed by narrow rivers. The antelopes, zebras, meerkats, honey badgers and several other animals looked for water in that hidden place, now they were running for their lives as the jackals chased them with menacing growls and quick paws. As there were only two entrances to the place, a small hole on a corner and a large yet narrow crack on another, it was hard for those animals to escape, so the jackals' deadly bites ended their lives rather quickly, there were dead antelopes, zebras, meerkats and honey badgers all over the place, laying over the red rocky ground, surrounded by occasional grass that was gently lighted by the strong, thin rays of the sunlight. Garia was gasping while walking towards the lake, she sat down before it and crouched, getting her snout close to the dark blue water. She began to drink from the lake, the pack then did the same, satiating the after-hunting thirst.

"Are we taking all these home?" A female jackal asked. "They're plenty."

Garia looked at the dead animals around them. "It's a special occasion. If it wasn't, we would be eating them already." She looked at her with a smile. "But our new allies are coming. They expect a great feast in our new land." Garia explained.

"So, we are just dragging this food all the way there?" A male jackal asked.

"Don't you have the strength to do it?" Another female jackal inquired mockingly, she knew what Reirei was talking about. "Like, come on, we are a few gorges away."

Reirei chuckled. "Just for today, alright?" She drank a bit more water and then let out a sigh, glaring around again. "It's the jackal's way."


	25. Episode 25: Accretion

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 25: Accretion

Jasiri was walking cautiously through the tall, dry grass under the hot sunlight, crouching as she maintained a focused glance on her preys, a family of buffaloes that was grazing with no other worries. Jasiri's ear twitched when hearing rushed steps ahead, so she poked out her head from the grass and her eyes widened when seeing another hyena going after the buffaloes. Jasiri growled and began to hurry towards her, knowing she had to either just get her away or end with her life in order to feed her family, wanting to avoid that option, thing she didn't find hard as the other hyena stopped her steps abruptly while breathing in and out rapidly. "Queen Jasiri?"

Jasiri raised an eyebrow when finding out who she was, still taking small, cautious steps before her. "Jaira." She said with a neutral tone in her voice.

Jaira was still recovering her breath. "My queen…I'm sorry for what happened." She lowered her head with shame. "I never thought he would do such a thing."

Jasiri sat down slowly, action mimicked by Jaira. "Your cubs?" She asked with a still unconfident tone.

"They're safe, we took shelter over there." Jaira gestured over her back, pointing at a group of tall bushes. "Not the best of places, but…" She sighed. "…enough, I guess."

Jasiri was thoughtful, she looked at the buffalos that were still unaware of their presence. She glared at Jaira again then glanced back at the preys. "I'll go for the female." She crouched and began to walk towards them, hesitantly followed by Jaira. "You get the male." Jasiri kept commanding. "Then we both go for the children, understand?"

"Yes, my queen." Jaira said.

Jasiri suddenly hurried up her steps, running with her eyes locked on the female buffalo, who never expected what was coming, same as the male and the children. When getting close enough to them, Jasiri jumped at her with her open jaws and her paws aiming at her side, tackling and biting with strength, bringing the buffalo down, keeping her teeth embedded on her skin, muscle and bone. Jaira had done the same with the male, throwing lots of bites at his neck, killing him almost right away, she looked around and saw the children trying to escape desperately, so she jumped over the dead male and began to run towards them. Jasiri gave a fatal bite at the agonizing mother, leaving her lifeless over the ground, she noticed that Jaira was already chasing the children so she rapidly rushed towards her.

The two little buffaloes looked over their backs constantly, each time seeing the hyenas closer to them, sharing looks of fear and great desperation. Jasiri scratched the hind leg of one of the buffaloes with a quick blow, making her to fall. She killed her rapidly with a bite on her face. Jaira jumped over the male child and got her jaws over his back, bringing him down along with herself, but she stood up quickly and ended with his suffering with a strong bite on his neck. The two hyenas were sitting down among their victims, sighing repeatedly with a rapid breathing, glaring into the other's eyes. "Now…" Jaira's breathing slowly began to get back to normal. "…what?"

Jasiri inhaled and exhaled deeply a couple of times while glaring at the ground, constantly switching her gaze between the scattered dead preys. "We have a cave." She looked into her eyes again. "Small, less than decent. But enough for two families nonetheless."

Jaira almost didn't think in her answer at all. "Really? You'll let us spent the night there?"

Jasiri got into her paws and started to walk towards her. "The night, the day. As long as we all do our part. Hunting, training, watching, all of those things. Those are the ways to our survival now that we have nothing left."

"My queen." Jaira sighed with shame and gratefulness. "I don't know what to say."

Jasiri was focused on the tears that were forming on Jaira's eyes. "Bring your cubs, Jaira. Tell them they'll sleep and eat in peace for today. Tomorrow, no one knows."

Jaira let out a gasp of thankfulness, accompanied by her teary eyes. She bowed down her head then looked again into Jasiri's eyes. "Thank you, queen of mine." She turned and started to head towards her cubs with hurried steps and Jasiri just looked at her with a hopeful smile on her face. After Jasiri had lost sight of her by the grass that grew there, the ears of the two male cubs showed over the dry grass, then Jasiri started to see them more clearly until they both got right in front of her, crouching and bowing their heads hesitantly. Jaira did the same after sitting behind them.

"Queen Jasiri." Jakir said.

"Hi, kids." Jasiri replied. "Feel hungry?" She gestured at the dead buffaloes. Both brothers looked into their eyes briefly then glanced back at Jasiri, nodding repeatedly. She chuckled. "Well, help us bring these to our cave and you may have double portion, do you agree?"

"Yes!" Both cubs said.

"I mean, yes…Queen Jasiri." Jakir corrected with a blush and a timid chuckle.

On the meantime, Janja and his children were laying over the ground, taking the sun while speaking occasionally, the three had their eyes closed and their breathing was tranquil. "Jaye…" Janja was between reality and dream. "Don…don't make your mother angry, okay?" He yawned. "It pisses m…me off."

Jara chuckled while looking into her brother's eyes. "I think he is dreaming."

Jaye turned his glare at his father. "Of course he is, we never make mom angry."

Jara raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" She yawned. "And the thing with Jedesi the other day?"

Jaye closed his eyes, pretending to ignore her. "That was an accident…almost."

Jara let out a single, brief chuckle. "Oh sure, that's why you didn't have breakfast for one week!" She smirked at him with sarcasm.

"Well, it was unfair. I was just hanging out with those guys and Jedesi wanted to show off. Those rocks where about t…" Jaye got interrupted.

"…to fall, you were just looking, yada, yada, yada." Jara completed, getting an upset frown from her brother.

"Shut up, Jara." Jaye got his head more comfortable over the grass.

"Jaye…" Janja warned with a sleepy voice.

"But…" Jaye looked again at his sister, frowning again. Jara just chuckled, a little bit more loudly, still silent enough to keep her dad calmed.

Janja's nose twitched when smelling his mate's scent, knowing she was close, so he got into his paws and stretched then raised an eyebrow when seeing Jasiri being accompanied by other three hyenas, almost not minding the good dinner they were dragging. "Hey…" Janja recognized the three hyenas. "Jaira? Jakir?...Jenuk?" He approached them, followed by his cubs.

Jasiri and the others left the dead buffaloes over the ground. She walked towards Janja and licked his face then stroked his neck while looking at Jaira and her two cubs. "She was also hunting." She whispered. "They need shelter."

"The cave is small." Janja murmured.

"Enough for seven, still." Jasiri argued. "Janja, she is still loyal. She've proven so."

Janja locked his gaze on Jaira's, whose eyes didn't show anything but truth. He then looked into her cubs' eyes, seeing on them the same bright of his offspring's glare, he would've never let the striking cold of the night to hurt their fur, or the heat of daylight to burn their skin, or their bellies to feel empty. "A…" He delayed a bit to answer. "Am I the only one who's hungry here?" He smiled at the cubs and their mother.

"No, me too!" Both Jakir and Jenuk said.

"Kids, manners!" Jaira scolded.

"Hi." Jara approached Jenuk. "I'm Jara."

"Jenuk." He replied, gesturing at his brother. "And Jakir is my brother."

"Eldest brother." Jakir added.

Jara chuckled and looked at her brother. "Jaye, he is the little one."

"I'm no little, you were born first, that's all." Jaye argued. "Nothing else."

"Uhm, duh." Jara annoyed him with a face that matched her expression.

Jaira let out a peaceful chuckle after seeing the cubs' greetings. "I think they'll get along pretty well."

"So do I." Jasiri opined then began to walk towards the buffaloes, followed by her mate and Jaira. The four cubs followed them.

The hyenas were enjoying every munch of the food they were sharing, feeling the warmness of the sun rays over their fur, tasting the chewy meat of the buffaloes, having no words, only feelings of satiation and glares of sudden harmony, only hearing the noise of their own bites and occasional tweets from neighboring birds.

After their stomaches got full, they all got in the cave to take a post meal nap, with plenty of buffalo still left for dinner and maybe for next day's breakfast. "I know." Jasiri sighed. "It's small."

"It's fine, my queen." Jaira replied while glaring at the dark rocky surroundings. "We could've spent another night in the cold, but now we'll have nothing but good rest." She looked at Jasiri, with eyes of thankfulness. "How could we ever pay you?"

Jasiri smirked at her when reaching the bottom of the cave. "There's nothing you owe us, Jaira. We both lost everything, all we got now is…" She glanced at her mate, at her cubs and Jaira's, then looked back at her. "…us."

"Qu…" Jasiri's voice was deeply broken, behind a grateful smile. A tear was forming in the corner of her eye. She started to cry all of a sudden, Jasiri approached her and stroked her with her forehead. "My…" She sobbed. "…queen…" Her crying got louder. "Thank you!" She kept crying. "…I didn't want this…" The others were just looking. "…I swear, I…I didn't…"

"I believe you, Jaira." Jasiri said with a reassuring voice, allowing her to let out all of that sadness and shame.


	26. Episode 26: Linkage

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 26: Linkage

Kion, Rani and Kiara were on their way to the Outlands, this time with calm steps, sunrise was still way ahead. "Many times, I wondered what could've happened to him." Kiara said referring to Dogo.

Kion was walking between them. "The jackals are more discrete than I thought." They turned their steps a bit to the east. "They were there all this time."

"I hope this isn't a trap." Rani said.

"What do you think, Kion?" Kiara asked. "Personally, I think it was too soon to accept any kind of invitation."

"I don't." Kion replied. "We can't afford mistrust, not now, at least not with the jackals. If we make the Outlands a land of allies, that would increase our chances against Baturu."

Kiara was thoughtful, unable to take the hyenas out of her mind. "Kion, where could they have gone? The…hyenas."

"I don't care." Kion responded coldly but rather hesitantly. "Maybe to Koto, Dezei…both." He sighed. "Who knows?"

Rani tried to change the subject. "And, is it true what they say? That jackals offer good feasts?"

Kion chuckled. "Oh, it's very true. My father told me several stories about abundant food, good songs, fires at night."

Kiara shared the same brief, nostalgic laugh. "I remember."

"Simba, wasn't he enemy of the jackals back in the day?" Rani inquired.

"Not really. When he reigned, there was some sort of tacit agreement between lions and jackals. They came often, only the important ones at least, almost always to discuss things regarding on how to take the hyenas out of the Outlands." Kion chuckled again. "He used to tell me he was jealous of how they organized their dinners, even in that time when they lived at the most desolated areas of the Outlands, they made them the most glorious of places with their parties."

"Parties?" Rani asked with confusion.

"That's how they call them. Well, that's what my father told me." Kion answered.

Kiara chuckled with a saddened tone. "Yes…I miss him so much."

Kion looked at her. "Me too, sister. Every day, every night..."

"Remember when you told him?" Rani said. "About Emba?"

Kion looked into the sky. "Of course." He sighed blissfully. "I'd never seen him smiling so greatly. That laugh, those eyes." He smirked. "We spent all night speaking about, well, parenthood and all." He chuckled. "Advices, do's and don'ts, things like that." Kion stood silent for a moment, with a subtle yet vibrant smile on his face.

"_I know, dad." Kion chuckled along with Simba, who were both laying over the grass while looking at the moonlighted horizon. "I don't think is that hard, you know, I mean…" He looked at his father. "Was I a big trouble for you?"_

_Simba looked him back. "It's not about trouble, Kion. When you become a father, there's no way back." He put a straight face. "Calmness never shows up again, no matter if your beloved children are right at your side, sleeping in peace. The fear never leaves." Simba said._

_Kion nodded, thinking he had understood the words of his father. "Yes, it's dangerous out there."_

"_No, son. Not that kind of fear." Simba sighed. "Since you two were born, and until this very day, I live with fear." He explained with his gaze on the ground. "Who will they become? The question I ask myself everyday." His voice began to break. "Evil comes in many forms, Kion. And I'm grateful that none of them have reached you or your sister…" Simba looked into the eyes of his son. "…yet."_

"_Sorry, but…" Kion was very confused. "I don't understand."_

"_You will, son of mine." Simba said. "When you become king, you will. That's the toughest test of them all." He looked at the front and exhaled deeply. "Watch their steps, Kion. As they can bring joy and peace to the lives of many, they can also become the nightmare of an entire generation." He lowered his gaze. "Please, don't lose sight of them. Please, Kion, as I did with you."_

_Kion was glaring at his father's enigmatic, worried face. "Yes…" Kion said suddenly. "They'll be fine, dad." He nodded with doubt. "Don't worry."_

The three lions were now walking down the path that led to the defile, having already arrived at the Outlands. The dead bodies of the hyenas could be seen already from that spot, and the strong odor of death was brought to them by the wind. They entered the defile and looked around with a caution that had remained in their hearts. The first jackals began to show up, looking at them with less cautious glares, with subtle smiles of gratitude, thing that Kion found strange, not as Rani and Kiara who bowed their heads at each one of them as brief greetings.

The sunset began to cover the gorges and the cracks uniformly, demonstrating the monarchs' punctuality. They began to spot two long lines of jackals that were a pair of minutes ahead, the canine hosts were sitting down before the great feast that was between them. When Kion, Kiara and Rani finally approached them, Dogo and Garia got in their way with welcoming smirks. They bowed their heads while looking at the three pridelanders. "Welcome, King Kion, Queen Kiara, Queen Rani." Garia said.

"My mate, Garia." Dogo glanced at her briefly.

"It's a pleasure." Kion and the two queens bowed their heads at her.

"I hope this modest dinner serve you well after your long trip." Garia said.

Kion chuckled. "It wasn't that long." He poked his head to see all the food behind them. "I wouldn't call this modest either." His eyes and his belly were delighted with all the food that was there.

Rani patted his side with her paw. "Love…"

Kion shook his head briefly and let out a chuckle. "You certainly honor your traditions, Dogo."

"Oh, that's something I'm glad to hear!" Dogo gestured at the crowd. "Come and sit, but guard your jaws, as I want to give a quick speech of our new alliance." Dogo and Garia walked towards their fellows and sat down in the middle of them, at the left line while Kion, Rani and Kiara did so at the right line, right in front of Dogo and his mate.

"Alliance?" Rani whispered at Kion.

"I don't know." Kion responded with the same doubtful tone.

Dogo laughed benevolently before letting out a sigh and looking at all of the jackals that were sitting there. "My comrades, today we have very special guests dining among us, the ones who expelled our longtime enemies. Kion, Kiara and Rani, rulers of the Pride Lands." He bowed down his head while also crouching, thing that his mate and the rest of the jackals mimicked. "Dankie."

"Dankie." The rest said solemnly.

Dogo straightened along with the others, keeping his glare on the three lions. "A great union starts today, between pridelanders and outlanders, the real outlanders." He was looking directly into Kion's eyes. "With the acceptance of both parts, of course." He stood silent to wait for Kion's response.

Kion looked at his sides, noticing the expectant eyes of the jackals, he then looked at his mate, who nodded immediately, then Kion looked at Kiara, who also gave him a confident nod. He looked back at Dogo and Garia, nodding firmly and with a straight face. "Your king has spoken." Howls and barks of celebration were heard immediately after Kion's statement.

Dogo was chuckling with joy. "Well, enough talk for now, let's get our hearts and bellies full, shall we?" The place where Kion and company were sitting at was right before a dead zebra, Rani gave the first bite then Kiara and lastly, Kion took a great piece of meat from the zebra's side, enjoying the flavor of the recently killed animal while munching slowly as he looked occasionally at Dogo and the rest of the jackals, who were also enjoying their respective dinner.

The sun was hiding and the dark blue of the sky was already showing up when the dinner had come to an end, the majority of the jackals remained with Dogo and the pridelanders while the rest was resting in their caves already. "What was his name, again?" Dogo inquired, he and Garia were walking in the defile along with Kion, Kiara and Rani.

"Baturu." Kion said with a straight tone. "He is a threat for all of us, for every animal." He sighed. "Our kingdom got divided for many reasons, but the main one is him. He convinced many lions to join his faction, he built several alliances in secret. His words are way sharper than his claws."

Dogo was thoughtful, glaring at the darkened dirt he walked on. "Do you think we can stop him?" He looked at Kion. "I mean, together."

Kion had his glare focused on the stars. "Yes, Dogo." He looked at him with conviction. "I think we can."

"And what if not?" Garia intervened with a worried tone.

Rani and Kiara looked into each others' eyes as if they both wanted to deliver an answer. "Well, if he wins at the end." Rani decided to do so and looked at Garia. "Then the Pride Lands, the Outlands and every region beyond that…they won't be safe anymore."

Garia's glare showed confusion and intrigue. "But, where will we go? To the Unending Mountain?"

"That's just a myth, my dear." Dogo said. "There will be nowhere to go." He lowered down his gaze again. "Nowhere."

"I've heard stories about that place." Kiara said. "Well, not directly. Zira used to tell Kovu those when he was a cub."

Rani raised an eyebrow while looking at her. "Unending Mountains…I've never heard of them."

"Kovu told me that only a few animals have gone there." Kiara explained. "But the legends say that it's far away from everything we know and see, that only the first kings actually went to that place. There are some poems about it, small descriptions, said to be written by no others but them."

Dogo looked at her with curiosity. "Do you know one?"

Kiara was already trying to remember a poem that Kovu had told her. "Yes." The ears of the rest moved slightly to listen to her words. "_Where have our tired paws taken us? Wind is dead, the Great Rock stands, and the wanderers seek for conquest, then their steps lead them back to never return."_

Dogo raised an eyebrow. "Is that it?"

"It's the one I remember the most." Kiara replied.

"Real or not…" Kion spoke firmly. "It doesn't matter. We will defeat him."

Dogo looked at Kion's certain, obstinate eyes. "Yes." He looked at his mate and stroked her snout with his. "We will."


	27. Episode 27: Ambiance

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 27: Ambiance

Dogo and Garia were in their cave, expecting sleep to take them over, talking about the dinner and the alliance with the Pride Landers. "You are the best hunter, my love." Dogo licked her. "Thanks for readying the feast for our guests, I'm sure they had a great time, just as all of us."

Garia chuckled silently. "They didn't deserve less." She caressed her mate's face with her snout. "For how long did we dream with nights like this?" She felt the forgiving warmth of the rocky cave. "Now it's up to us to enjoy them the most we can."

"We will, Garia." Dogo laid his head over hers. "This is our present, our future." He yawned. "A beautiful future."

Garia had some words stuck in her mind. "And our cub's…"

Dogo was already falling asleep. "Of course." He exhaled with tranquility. "When the time comes."

Garia smirked with a tear on the corner of her eye. "Dogo…"

"Mhm?" Dogo expressed with a sleepy voice.

"The time has come." Garia let out a laugh of joy, she couldn't keep hinting anymore and just spoke out her mind. "I'm pregnant."

Dogo's eyes widened then he straightened and sat down, looking at his mate's teary eyes of happiness, with a small cub wandering in his thoughts. A lump started to form in his throat. "Am I…" He sobbed and a tear traveled through his fur. "A…" A big smile appeared on his face.

Garia nodded at him and approached him, resting her neck on his. "You will be a father, Dogo." She sobbed and started to cry deeply, but it was a crying of joy and hope.

Dogo also started to cry blissfully. "Thank you…" His voice was already greatly broken. "…Garia, thank you so much." Dogo kept crying, with a strength he had never felt before, feelings of attachment and love for his upcoming offspring. He began to lick her face, then she started to do the same, the love between them had increased, the tears and strokes they shared for their cub were filled with emotions they had never experienced before, as if a growing light was brightening the deepest corners of their hearts and minds, a new sun had come to their lives, and a grateful feeling raised among them.

Way beyond the Pride Lands and the Outlands, under the aggressive heat of the morning's sun, several families of hyenas were continuing their way to an hypothetical new place to live. "Mom." A teen, male hyena said. "My paws hurt…"

The mother had her gaze locked on the sandy ground. "We're close, Jantu." She responded.

Jantu groaned. "Close to where?" He barely had the energy to keep speaking. "I only see sand, no trees, no food…" Jantu's empty stomach was hurting him more than his exhausted paws. "...we're going to die here."

"Don't say those things, my son." She spoke with sadness. "Please."

"What else could I say if there's only death in my mind, mother?" Jantu groaned and sobbed.

"Just hold on." The mother said with some hope.

Jantu didn't want to continue the conversation, as if he preferred to save that energy to keep living. He began to look around him, seeing the tiredness, the hunger, the defeat and the resignation of his kind. Jantu's sight got locked on a cub that was having trouble to keep moving, just as him. The little hyena couldn't follow the quicker steps of their parents, thing noticed by his mother, who walked fast towards him, telling him words that Jantu couldn't hear, but intuited they had been similar to the ones his own mother had told him moments before. But the cub closed his eyes and fell over his side, breathing weakly, the mother called her mate immediately while getting her head over her son, speaking to him, with tears on her eyes, the father arrived, some other hyenas stopped walking to see what was going on, Jantu kept watching the scene through the empty spaces between the crowd, managing to see the parents' faces of unbearable sadness, his ears twitched when listening to the sudden crying of the two hyenas, mourning for the death of their cub, brought by the sun and the hunger. The father carried the body of his little son over his back, crying deeply along with his mate, both of them kept walking, with an additional, terrible burden on their lives.

Jantu kept glaring at the dead cub, seeing the two parents walking away between the crowded path. A heavy, unexpected sorrow fell over him, bringing him down, laying over his side, with his face resting over the hot sand, crying out strongly for the cub, sobbing with desperation, the unending tears that fell over the sand faded away rapidly with the sun's heat. The other hyenas just walked past him, some with more caring looks than others. "Jantu." He heard the voice he knew the better, the one of his mother, who began to help him to stand up. It took him a great effort to do so, but the aid of his mother made it easier. When they were both over their paws, they resumed their steps. Jantu was still crying and his mother accompanied him in his sadness, sharing the same tears and sobs.

Mornings seemed to be way longer in Ungari, the tunnel where Kovu rested among his sons and nephews was rarely reached by the sun, the dark green vegetation of the inside blocked the sunlight uniformly, even if it tried to enter through the window that faced the brief cliff. Keru was the first to open his eyes, as almost every morning. The cub welcomed the day with a long yawn, he stretched and began to get over his paws, looking at his sleeping father, brother and cousins. He walked calmly over the fresh plant covered ground until exiting the tunnel. Keru sat down at the edge of the cliff, greeting the colorful flying insects of the morning with his gaze and smile, getting lost on the deep green of Ungari and the vast colors of the insects. "Keru." Emba approached him with no previous warning, yawning slightly and sitting down next to him. "What are you looking at?"

Keru kept contemplating the scene. "The plants and the insects."

Emba tried to find the interesting in Keru's reply, focusing on the scene himself, tilting his head a bit. "I'm quite accustomed to this, you know?"

"Me too." Keru said.

"But don't worry, I'm sure we'll be back soon." Emba said, thinking Keru needed reassurance.

"Back where?" Keru responded.

Emba raised an eyebrow. "Uhm, at Pride Rock."

"Oh." Keru responded, his eyes were still locked on the scene. "But, I want to stay here forever."

"Forever?" Emba chuckled. "That ain't happening, this is just temporary."

"I know." Keru said. "But…" He delayed a bit to think of the simple word he wanted to let out. "…still."

"Don't you miss your mom?" Emba asked, lowering down his head. "I know I miss mine."

"Yes, I miss her." Keru replied. "But I want her to be here too."

"I admit this is a nice place." Emba said. "But Pride Rock is our home." He glared at the waterfalls.

"Is better here." Keru argued. "Here I'm not afraid, not even a little."

"Afraid?" Emba looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"The Pride Lands have become…uhm…" Keru was ashamed of what he was about to say. "Scary." He expressed with a low tone. "I don't like being scared."

Emba chuckled. "Well, who does?" He replied. "You know that we'll rule one day, don't you?" Emba waited for an answer. "Ker…"

"I don't want to rule!" Keru exclaimed, thing that woke up Kovu and the other cubs. Keru was gazing at his cousin with eyes of anger. "No one asked me."

Emba was very confused as he found unthinkable that anyone could refuse to being in charge of an entire kingdom. "Why?"

Keru maintained his glare on his. "I want to play, to eat." His voice was broken. "To sleep just like the rest. Not like our parents."

Emba felt rather offended. "What are you talking about?"

"They…" Keru gave thought to his response. "…they only fight and argue and discuss stuff, I don't want to live like that."

"That's because they are rulers, Keru." Emba said with a straight tone. "It's their responsibility."

"And it will be yours." Kovu said all of a sudden, standing behind the two cubs, looking at his son with eyes of disappointment. Ari and Zale were hiding behind the tunnel's entrance.

"You think he's in trouble?" Ari asked with a murmur.

"Maybe." Zale replied.

"Emba, could you give us a moment?" Kovu asked while sitting down next to his son. "There are antelope leftovers if you want to eat. We'll join you in a moment."

Emba hesitated a bit to leave them alone but he finally obeyed his uncle and got away from them. Kovu waited for Emba to get inside the tunnel, then when he no longer saw the furry tip of his tail, he looked into Keru's eyes which were lost in the plants under his paws. "Son." He spoke with a firm, deep voice.

Keru had a straight face, close to one of anger. "You've heard me." He said daringly.

"Keru. How many times have I told you?" Kovu got his face close to his son's. "You were born to be king, you and your brother."

Keru didn't move. "How do you know?"

Kovu didn't have an answer ready for that question. "Aren't the children of a king meant to follow his steps?" Keru finally looked into his father's eyes, without saying a word. They stood looking at each other for a long moment, then Keru let out a strong sigh of annoyance while walking away from his father. "I asked you a question!" Kovu's voice went gradually more severe. Keru ignored him while heading to one of the other tunnels, almost at the opposite side of the cliff. Kovu didn't got his glance away from his son until he entered the tunnel with his head lowered.


	28. Episode 28: Nuances

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 28: Nuances

Denji was standing before the lines of warriors that Baturu had asked him to call, under the sun of the late morning, among the bright rivers of lava, he was rather nervous as Baturu hadn't arrived and he didn't have any words to tell them. His ear twitched when hearing Baturu's unmistakable steps, so he moved away a bit with a sigh of relief.

Baturu arrived without saying a word, walking slowly while glaring at the eyes of his warriors, cheetahs, lions and rhinos were the ones he had chosen for that particular mission. He looked at Denji and nodded at him with a subtle smirk then sat down while glancing back at his warriors. "Hyenas. Filthy, lazy and pathetic, a pitiful shame that wanders in the desert with no path to follow!" Baturu exclaimed with hate and anger. "It is our chance, our chance to kill them all, to end with their misery!" Several chirrups, roars and grunts were heard. Baturu let out a chuckle. "And most importantly…this, my loyal warriors, will be a message to our enemies, they'll be afraid..." He laughed. "…more afraid than they are now! Afraid of the power of Baturu and his unmatched army! Now, go, and kill them all, kill the lost hyenas, and show the power of my kingdom!" Baturu got into his paws and let out a loud, powerful roar. The numerous warriors turned and ran with their goal clear, getting away from Baturu's sight rapidly, heading to the hyenas' last known location.

Denji approached Baturu and stood next to him. "What's next, my king?"

Baturu's eyes were lost in the horizon, having a hidden smirk on his face. "We wait, Denji." He looked at him. "We just wait."

In Ungari, Kovu, Ari, Emba and Zale were sharing a large piece of antelope as breakfast, inside the tunnel. "Dad." Zale said before munching some meat.

"Mhm?" Kovu expressed, he was rather focused in his own thoughts as well as his eating.

"Is Keru in trouble?" Zale inquired.

Kovu sighed with annoyance. "No." He replied with a straight tone. "He just needs time, that's all." Kovu looked at Zale. "And that's between him and me, okay?"

Zale lowered his head and kept eating. "Okay."

Keru was laying over his side, on the green, soft ground, feeling the freshness of the plants while looking at the dark green wall of the tunnel, spotting some tiny and colorful flowers hidden between the leaves and the stems, getting lost in their subtle beauty, as he was thinking about the argument he had with his father moments before. Keru loved him a lot, he always felt safe at his side, his voice and words reassured him every time he was troubled, Kovu accepted every game he dared him to play, he even enjoyed them despite him being a fully grown lion, at least on the outside, as Keru always thought.

Keru wasn't very sure of what he wanted to become in the future, but being king, that was something he secretly disdained, until that morning. He began to feel guilt, a strong guilt, the pain he felt in his stomach was lighter than the one in his heart. His anxiety rapidly turned into fear which then gradually became sadness, a sadness that formed a lump in his throat. The first tears traveled over his fur slowly, but then they grew in number along with the sobs, until the silent crying of the little lion echoed in the tunnel. The sobs eased the pain in his stomach a bit, his gasps gave some peace to his troubled thoughts, but the loneliness of the moment didn't fade away.

Kovu, Ari, Emba and Zale had finished eating their breakfast. The three cubs were now enjoying a calm time in the pool, just swimming in the water with slow movements while Kovu watched over them from a cliff. Ari was floating next to Emba, one of the waterfalls was falling right over them, they felt the fresh breeze of the water touching their napes while the gentle yet comforting hits of the falling drops reached their backs. "So, you think our Council will be only of three?" Emba asked, constantly moving his paws back and forth to keep floating. "When we reign."

"Why?" Ari inquired. "For Keru?"

"Well, duh." Emba responded.

Ari grunted. "Who knows, he is too young…we all are, actually."

"Yes but, we should start thinking on that stuff already, you know? To be ready." Emba said.

"If you say so." Ari rolled up her eyes.

"Of course, I mean, we can even change the name of the Pride Lands, maybe something cooler like 'Mufasa…ria or something." Emba moved a bit backwards to let the water fall over his tuft.

Ari chuckled. "You're kidding, right?"

"Maybe." Emba replied.

Ari sighed. "Still, we won't be three in that case, but six."

Emba chuckled mockingly. "Oh, got a secret little love that we don't know about?"

"No!" Ari blushed. "Well…" She looked away. "Not now, but…I mean it will happen one day"

Emba chuckled. "I'm just kidding." He closed his eyes to enjoy the water falling over his face. "We are ages away from that, still."

Zale approached them while throwing water at them with his paws, making them to growl with annoyance. "Water fight!"

"Zale!" Ari exclaimed with rage.

Zale's eyes widened. "Wow, calm down, don't you wanna play?"

Ari sighed. "No, Zale, not now."

Zale looked at Emba with a hopeful glare. "You?"

Emba yawned. "Not now, Zale. I just want to relax."

Zale raised an eyebrow. "Why? Are you two like elders or something?"

"Just tell Keru." Ari said, having returned to her previous spot under the waterfall. "That might help him."

Zale looked away to see if he could spot his brother somewhere. "Maybe..." He gave them another pleading gaze, but they just ignored him, so he swam away from them to look after Keru.

"I thought he was never going to leave." Emba said, now floating over his back, letting the water to hit his chest and belly.

"Same." Ari replied, floating calmly in the blue water.

Zale exited the pool, soggy, with water dripping from his fur to the ground. He carefully walked up the rocky path that led to the upper tunnels, walking into the first one, not finding Keru there. He exited that tunnel and then got into the next one, where he saw his little brother sleeping on one of the opposite corners. "Keru." Zale murmured, approaching him slowly. "Hey, Keru." He stopped walking when getting behind him.

"Mm…" Keru growled subtly.

"Uhm…wanna…" Zale already imagined Keru's negative response. "…water fight?"

Keru delayed a bit to answer. "No."

Zale sighed. "Come on, it will cheer you up."

"I want to be alone." Keru responded with a broken voice.

"Brother." Zale got closer to him and laid next to him. "Maybe…you just need to talk."

"Not now." Keru said, letting out a long sigh, keeping his eyes closed.

"Hey, I'm sure dad loves you." Zale said reassuringly.

"I know." Keru said. "But he still wants us to rule…and I don't want to. And he doesn't understand." Zale kept looking at him with pity, then he rested his head over his paws and closed his eyes. "Please, just leave me alone."

"No can do." Zale replied. "I'll never leave, Keru. You're my brother."

Kovu was looking at them from the opposite entrance of the tunnel, with memories coming to his mind.

_Kovu and Kiara were laying over the grass, looking at the stars of the night, picking their favorite ones, finding shapes and sharing peaceful chuckles. "Kovu… I love you so much." She turned a bit to get over her side, Kovu did the same._

_Kovu got lost in her beautiful eyes. "Me too, Kiara. What would be of me if I hadn't known you?" He licked her. "Maybe, a ruthless, evil leader of the Outlands."_

_Kiara smirked at him. "No, Kovu. You would've found the truth, one way or another." She caressed his face with her paw._

_Kovu pretended a brief laugh. "Yes…maybe."_

"_I'm sure about that." Kiara licked him back. "But…what could've been, that doesn't matter, it doesn't matter at all." She said. "What matters is what we have now."_

"_And what we have now?" Kovu replied rather jokingly, smiling at her._

"_Well…" Kiara stroked his forehead with hers. "We have each other, we have our family."_

"_Well that's true." Kovu said. "I think I got the best __inlaws__ in the Pridelands."_

_Kiara chuckled. "You think?"_

"_I know, sweetheart." Kovu responded with a chuckle. "And the best is yet to come."_

"_Our little cub." Kiara said while rubbing her __belly__. "Who you think he or she will look like?"_

"_Well like you, I absolutely hope that." Kovu's comment made both to laugh. "Either way…" He rested his forehead on hers and closed his eyes. "I'll give our little one all the love I can. He deserves it."_


	29. Episode 29: Bloom

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 29: Bloom

Javara was running rushedly over the vast and dry grass, chasing her newly found prey, a zebra that stood no chance against her quick paws. She forced the zebra to run more closely to the cave, as she wouldn´t have been able to drag him all the way there. Right when she had her prey right where she wanted, Javara jumped and bit his neck strongly, the zebra brayed loudly and fell to the ground, the hyena´s jaws didn´t stop biting, she strengthened the pressure of her teeth against the neck of the agonizing zebra, staying that way for a few moments, until her prey finally died. Javara got onto her paws, munching and swallowing the chunk of meat she had ripped out, walking into the cave.

Juzare was laying on the same spot he always used, on the cave´s furthest corner, Javara let out a sigh of pity and made up a heartwarming smile while approaching him. The elitas under and over his legs had been renewed. "Sleepy..." She got next to him and slid under him then straightened, carrying him over her back. "It´s meal time already." Javara spoke with a motherly tone.

Juzare groaned. "Won´t you let me sleep until dinner?" He was slowly opening his eyes.

Javara chuckled. "I don´t want lazies in our cave."

"Our cave, huh?" Juzare replied, then they went outside.

Javara walked towards the dead zebra and gently crouched before it, laying Juzare over the grass. "It took me a while to find this…" She sighed. "But it should be enough for two days."

"Maybe more." Juzare was glancing at the zebra. "I´m not hungry."

"Oh no, dear." Javara approached the zebra´s side and bit it strongly then ripped out a huge chunk of meat, she then went with Juzare and dropped the piece of meat in front of him. "Eat, you are not getting better without energy."

"My legs don´t hurt anymore." Juzare argued.

"That´s not what I mean." Javara responded, moving the meat with her snout, getting it closer to his. "Please, Juzare..." She insisted. "...please."

Juzare was looking into her pleading eyes, getting lost in their blissfulness for a long moment, managing to see the effort that she had gone through to get that meal. He switched his gaze to the piece of meat and after briefly looking at her again, he took a small bit, munching it slowly, closing his eyes and sighing with enjoyment. Javara smirked at him then she turned to have her own piece of meat. "More." Juzare suddenly said, making her to look over her back, her eyes widened when seeing Juzare had already eaten the entire chunk of meat she had given to him. Javara chuckled and replied with a serviceable nod, walking towards the zebra and ripping out another piece of meat, then she held it out to Juzare, leaving it gently over the grassy ground. Juzare looked into her eyes and smirked subtly, then he began to eat the new piece of meat, with big munches and expressions of delight.

After they got fully satiated, the two hyenas stayed outside, laying over the ground. "How do you fell now?" Javara asked.

Juzare´s eyes now showed a more hopeful hue as he glared at the horizon. "Better." He replied with a little smirk.

Javara smiled at him. "I´m so glad to hear that, Juzare."

Juzare got thoughtful, he slowly lowered down his gaze, adopting a glare of intrigue. "Javara." He was glancing at the dry blood that stained the grass. "Why did you save me?"

"Well..." Javara wasn´t entirely sure about her answer. "...I felt I had to."

Juzare tried to figure it out himself. "Because I was your captain?" He straightened his head and looked at her with a rather straight face. "Subordination?"

Javara tried to speak out her mind instead of giving more thought to her next response. "I just saw you suffering...slowly dying." She got closer to him. "Defeated..." Javara put her paw over his. "That´s..." She sighed and caressed his face with hers. "...that´s it." Javara lowered down her head and gently rested it over her paws, closing her eyes, feeling the heaviness of the meal taking her to a sudden exhaustion.

Juzare was meditating on her words, locking his gaze on her face, not paying attention to the nothingness he sensed on his crippled legs, nor the satiety he felt in his stomach, but just focusing in her, seeing the last days as if they were clear, strong memories, knowing Javara´s unique features, watching her fur getting gently moved by the air, illuminated by the sun. He got his head over her neck quite effortfully, then slowly closed his eyes, still unsure of what he was doing. After a few peaceful moments, they both fell deeply asleep.

Jakir, Jenuk, Jaye and Jara were just passing the time in a rough terrain not so far from their cave. "Guys...wanna go back?" Jenuk said, he laid over the lowest spot of the rocky and grassy place.

"Why? Is even lamer there." Jakir yawned.

Jara sighed and got into her paws. "Come on, there´s gotta be something fun to do." She looked at the male cubs. "...other than sleeping."

"I don´t have a problem with that, actually." Jaye replied, getting himself comfortable over the grass.

Jakir was between dream and reality, his eyes were partially opened, but then they opened widely. "Hey...yeah..." He stood up all of a sudden, making the rest to look at him with their eyebrows raised.

"What?" Jara said with excitement.

"Mashindano!" Jakir looked at Jaye. "What you think?" He jumped from his spot and approached him. "Come on, we´ll be first. The winner goes against the next one."

"Mashi-what?" Jaye inquired, cautiously getting into his paws.

"Mashindano, competition." Jakir adopted a daring look. "Fight."

"Yes!" Jenuk exclaimed with acceptance.

"No!" Jara opined, looking at the three males with scolding eyes. "My parents wouldn´t let us. Nor your mother." She glared at Jakir and Jenuk.

"They don´t have to find out, do they?" Jakir said.

"I´ll tell them, I don´t care." Jara warned, sitting down while keeping her glance at them.

Jakir sighed. "Jara, if you don´t want to fight, it´s okay, this will be between u..."

"It´s not that, Jakir!" Jara exclaimed. "I just won´t let you do this, you could all get severely hurt."

"So? That´s our business." Jakir replied with a frown, growling subtly at her.

Jara grunted and looked at her brother. "Jaye, come." She gestured backwards, waiting for her little brother to follow her. "Jaye!"

"Uhm..." Jaye stood up, looking at both Jakir and Jenuk. "This mashin-thing...it sounds fun to me." He looked at Jara with unsure eyes.

Jara growled. "Jaye...if you don´t go with me, I´ll just tell mom. You want that?"

"No." Jaye responded.

"Then, come." Jara gestured back again.

"He wants to stay, Jara." Jakir approached her menacingly. "Let him stay." He gestured frontwards. "Go away."

"Oh, are you trying to give me orders?" Jara got into her paws.

"Yes, that´s exactly what I´m doing." Jakir frowned and growled at her.

Jenuk noticed his brother´s front paw moving slowly towards her. "Jakir..." He went down a brief path to approach the two cubs, getting next to his brother. "Just let her go." Jenuk could see the rage in Jakir´s eyes.

"She´ll get us in trouble." Jakir kept his gaze locked on hers.

"Be sure I will." Jara began to adopt a firmer position.

Jakir grunted and took a pair of steps towards her. "Promise you won´t tell them...and I will let you go."

"No." Jara sentenced.

"Jara, just go." Jaye pleaded. "We only want to play."

"I won´t let them hurt you, brother." Jara replied.

Jakir sighed with frustration and mockery. "Girls..." All of a sudden, Jakir´s brutal blow scratched Jara´s snout, making her to groan by the pain. She fell over the ground, already tasting the drips of blood that rapidly traveled down from the wound. "You won´t tell them! Say it!" He got closer to her.

"Jakir..." Jenuk tried to approach him but Jakir looked at him rapidly over his back, with a menacing look, growling with warning.

"Still feeling brave?!" Jakir shouted at her and threw another blow at her face, scratching her again. "Huh!"

Jara started to cry. "Jaye!" At his sister´s plead, Jaye took a couple steps forward, but Jakir gave him the same look he had given to his brother. He just stood there, looking at the wounds on Jara´s face, with a lump in his throat. "I don´t want to play anymore." He said and surrounded Jakir then tried to approach his sister. "Come on, Jar..." He got suddenly tackled by Jakir.

"Running away from me?!" Jakir was holding Jaye by pressing his paws over his chest. "Do you fear me!"

Jaye gasped, trying to get Jakir off him. "This is not funny! She is hurt!"

"Duh! It´s a fight you moron!" Jakir bit his neck strongly then let go in a blink.

"Gah!" Jaye rolled over the grass while rubbing his wound with a paw. Jakir walked towards him and threw a blow at his face, making him to let out a scream of pain. "Get up and fight!" He turned and saw that Jara was standing up, so he ran rapidly towards her and jumped, but right at that moment Jenuk tackled him. The two brothers fell to the ground and Jenuk stood up faster than Jakir, who looked at him with a widened glare of anger and intrigue. "What are you doing?"

Jenuk took a few steps backwards. Jara and Jaye managed to recover without Jakir noticing as he was too focused in his brother´s eyes. The cubs of Janja and Jasiri ran away from the scene the fastest they could. "This is too much, Jakir." Jenuk was trembling, unable to hide his fear as he know his brother was way stronger and agile than him. "Let´s go home."

Jakir stood silent but maintained his daringly enraged face. "We´ll go home..." He began to ran towards Jenuk. "...when I´m done with you, little brother!"


	30. Episode 30: Breakage

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 30: Breakage

Jenuk ran like he never did before, with his paws aching and his lungs at their limit, his hind leg was bleeding by the bite of his brother. "I´ll catch you, brother!" Jakir warned with a ruthless chuckle. "I´ll catch you!"

"Jenuk, please! It´s not funny!" Jenuk replied, his breathing was heavy and quick.

"It´s not meant to be! This is life, Jenuk, you fight or you d…!" Jakir gasped and widened his eyes, stopping his steps rapidly and briefly sitting down, then he got into his paws again and started to walk backwards, with his ears lowered and a face of fear.

Jenuk hid behind his mother, who was walking towards Jakir. "Fight or what, Jakir?" Jaira got closer to him. "Fight or what!"

Jakir trembled and stopped walking, laying over the ground and lowering his head. "Nothing..."

"No, tell me!" Jaira grabbed him with her jaws and threw him, making him to land strongly over the ground. Jakir coughed and groaned then looked at his mother, who was walking around him. Jenuk had gone to the cave which was already near. "Jakir!" Jaira insisted.

"Or die!" Jakir exclaimed with tears on his face. "You fight or you die!" He started to cry as his mother´s eyes of scold and rage were unbearable for him.

"Are you stupid, Jakir?! What were you thinking?!" Jaira approached him. "Starting fights, hurting our gentile hosts! Hurting your own brother!" Jakir didn´t say a word. "Answer to me!"

"Sorry!" Jakir exclaimed, still sobbing. "I was bored, that´s all!"

Jaira´s eyes widened. "And that gives you the right to do what you did?!"

"No." Jakir spoke softly.

"Jakir!" Jaira´s rage had grown.

"No!" Jakir got into his paws, keeping his glare on hers.

Jaira looked at him for a long moment, with a frown of disappointment and anger. "You sleep outside, ten days." She turned and started to walk away.

Jakir gasped. "Mom! It´s cold at night!" Jaira looked at him over her back, managing to end the discussion with her authoritarian glance. Jakir stood there, still affected by his mother´s scold as the trembling of his body didn´t stop.

Meanwhile, in the cave, Jasiri was laying on the ground along with her cubs and mate, licking the wounds of Jara, while Janja did the same with his son´s. "Shhh...it´s okay, sweetie...it´s all over." Jasiri reassured, licking her bleeding forehead. "I´m here."

"Dad, I wanted to fight at first but...my sister." Jaye spoke between sobs of guilt.

Janja chuckled reassuringly. "You did the right thing, my son." He kept licking his wounded face. "I´m here, I won´t let anything happen to you or your sister."

Jenuk was sitting on the opposite corner of the cave, looking at them with a guilty glare. Jaira entered the cave and walked towards him. "Let me see..." She made him lay down. "Oh..." She gasped when seeing his trembling hind leg, covered in blood. She growled. "That little beast..." She said with anger and started to lick Jenuk´s leg.

"Where is Jakir?" Jenuk asked.

"Outside." Jaira responded.

"You punished him?" Jenuk inquired, gasping after his mother licked a painful spot on his wound.

Jaira kept licking his wounded leg. "He must learn his lesson, Jenuk." After finishing, she straightened and smirked at him. "Rest, son." She turned and walked towards Janja and Jasiri with shame. "I´m so sorry. This shouldn´t have happened." Jaira lowered down her head while shaking it. "Maybe we should leave."

"Oh, Jaira." Jasiri got into her paws and walked towards her. "They´re just kids...these things happen."

Jaira sighed. "I´ll make sure he learns, Jasiri." She looked at Janja and the cubs. "You have a splendid family. We don´t deserve to be here."

Jasiri looked into her ashamed eyes for a moment then she got closer to her and stroked her neck with hers. "You´re family too, Jaira. You and your cubs." She backed away, keeping her glare on hers. "We are in this together."

Meanwhile, in the desert plains, the errant hyenas were walking, a slightly reduced number of them as some weren´t able to survive the unmerciful heat of the sun. Jantu walked at his mother´s side, both of them tried to stay standing by resting their sides against the other´s. "You´re close, my son." The mother said, her eyes were half closed. "You will make it."

"We will, mom." Jantu said with a broken voice. "We all will."

The mother let out a long sigh. "Not me." Her steps began to weaken. "This sun...this depletion." She looked into her son´s eyes. "It´s too m...much." The hyena suddenly fell over the ground.

"Mom!" Jantu crouched and tried to lift her, moving her with his snout desperately. "Mom, please, don´t leave me." He started to cry deeply and bitterly. Jantu licked her forehead several times, his sadness became stronger, he laid over her side while sobbing and gasping. He closed his eyes after a while, wanting his life to end already, as he had lost all hope. His ear twitched when hearing sudden laughs of fear and death, along with screams of pain and terror. He gasped and opened his eyes, noticing all the hyenas running in the opposite direction. Jantu got into his paws, hesitating, listening to his heart´s call for survival. The teen hyena looked at his mother for the last time, he crouched a bit and licked her forehead again. He turned and followed the rest of the hyenas in their desperate rush. He looked over his back occasionally to see if he could figure out what was going on. Jantu gasped after seeing a pair of hyenas getting pierced by the horn of a huge rhino. The fear invaded him right away, his weakness seemed to have vanished as his steps started to get faster, he continuously switched his gaze between backwards and frontwards. The roars of the lions, the chirrups of the cheetahs and the growls of the rhinos increased his trepidation, the pain on his paws was strong, but if he stopped running even a second, his chances of escape would be nil. Jantu witnessed how his kind was getting exterminated, the cheetahs reached his compatriots with no difficulty at all, jumping at them fiercely, ending with their lives in a blink, the lions´ strong tackles brought them down one by one and their lives were taken by their jaws.

Jantu decided to separate from the agglomeration, rapidly yet carefully running through the gaps he found between the hyenas´ desperate escape. His gaze was now fully at the front, he dodged his equals with quick, decisive movements and jumped over them occasionally. He heard a nearby scream and instinctively looked at his left side, seeing how a lion and a pair of cheetahs were tearing apart a hyena, he closed his eyes strongly and looked away, horrified, keeping running. Jantu finally exited the crowd, looking back and widening his eyes with terror when seeing the rhino and the lion that chased him from afar. He looked back at the front and started to breathe and run faster, his paws and legs still ached but he kept running nonetheless. He narrowed his eyes a bit as he was spotting a crack at the distance, having no idea on where possibly could that lead him into, it could be either a certain death or a convenient escape. Jantu had no choice anyway, so he kept breathing and running, feeling his own intensified heartbeats, hearing the chirrups and the growls getting closer, glaring at the crack that was approaching. He let out a groan of effort and pain then started to gasp, refusing to look back, only focusing on the crack that could mean death or salvation. The darkness that the crack showed didn´t stop him to jump into it.

The cheetah had almost reached him, she stopped her steps right at the edge of the crack, seeing how Jantu hit the rocky walls of the inside strongly while falling, the last hit left a part of the brown wall stained with blood, then he fell into the river that flowed inside the crack, leaving a trace of blood in the running water. The coldness of the river and the darkness of the crack embraced Jantu, the ache on his legs and the pain from his new wound were non-existent to him, the hyena only felt the rapid stream taking him to the unknown, always in darkness, carrying him and guiding his path. His head exited occasionally from the water, thanks to the uneven turns of the river, Jantu got unconsciously restful with the fresh smell of green that he had never smelled in his entire life. The darkness of the crack suddenly vanished, as well as the crack itself, as Jantu was now traveling between tall trees, robust bushes and small, gray, rocky caverns. The light of the sun passed shyly through the far leaves of the trees, illuminating the river with subtlety. Jantu kept being carried by the current, until he got stuck between a rock and a branch. After a while, his ears twitched, receiving echoing, young voices, but his unconscious mind couldn´t unveil the words behind them.


	31. Episode 31: Aid

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 31: Aid

Jantu was laying over the grass, strong green as everything around him. Four cheetah cubs were with him. "He is bleeding." Faeze said.

"What do we do?" Aozo asked.

"Do we accept hyenas in Karu-Karu?" Niri asked Faeze.

"Uhm, yes, I guess." Faeze replied.

"And what are they good for?" The third cub, Tizei, inquired.

Faeze sighed. "Let me think." He walked around Jantu, checking if he had more wounds, confirming the hyena only had one, on his side.

"Faeze, maybe we should call your mom." Aozo proposed.

Faeze had his glance locked at the hyena, thoughtful. "Or..." He looked at his friends. "We could take care of him."

"Uhm, Faeze?" Aozo raised an eyebrow.

"I´ve heard my parents talking with the warriors, I think hyenas are enemies." Faeze explained.

"So, aren´t they Karu-Karu´s enemies too?" Tizei expressed.

"Yes, but..." Faeze could only see the grief in Jantu´s unconscious face. "But..." He sighed. "Maybe he is good."

"Yes." Niri opined. "A hyena member could be useful!"

"Oh, for what?" Tizei asked.

"Uhm, I don´t know, we´ll have to find out." Niri said.

Aozo approached Jantu, sitting next to him, with a doubtful glare. "I don´t know, Faeze. What if your mom finds out?"

"Well..." Faeze looked at them all with a look of warning. "If we are cautious enough, and keep or snouts shut...there´s no reason for that to happen, right?" The three cubs nodded with hesitation. "Fine." He glared back at Jantu then gestured rightwards. "Let´s take him to the lair."

The four cubs used all their strength to drag Jantu over the thick, green grass, dodging the tall, leaved trees, sometimes unsuccessfully, as Jantu´s head just bumped in one. "Careful!" Faeze scolded, keeping moving, pushing the hyena with his head just as the others.

Niri was watching over the hyena´s wound. "It´s stopped bleeding."

Faeze gasped as he was starting to get tired. "Good..." He sighed. "Rest, rest..." He stopped dragging and laid down, followed by the others.

"How much left?" Tizei asked while sighing.

Faeze looked around, noticing the familiar trees and bushes that served as orientation for him. "Not too much."

"Shall we call a healer?" Niri noticed a strange yellow suppuration appearing over the wound. "That doesn´t look good."

"They could tell mom, or dad." Faeze opined.

"I´m friends with Rila, Randa´s daughter." Aozo said. "I could just tell her to bring her mom´s stuff."

"Good idea." Faeze gestured away. "Go, then meet us at the lair." Aozo nodded at him then left in a hurry.

"Do you think he has a name?" Niri inquired.

"Duh, of course he has one." Tizei mocked.

"Either way, we won´t know it until he wakes up." Faeze opined, getting onto his paws after stretching. "Rest´s over, keep moving."

Niri yawned while standing up along with Tizei, both of them continued pushing Jantu with their heads as well as Faeze did. "You had to send Aozo before getting this guy in the lair, hadn´t you?" Tizei disputed.

"Shut up, Tizei." Faeze warned, gasping by the effort with each push.

"I got a provisional name for him." Niri insisted.

"Yeah? We don´t care." Tizei replied.

Niri ignored him. "Potea, it suits him, you know? Because he was, like, lost there."

"It sounds terrible, I´ll just keep calling him…well, ´him´." Tizei said with an eyebrow raised.

"Doesn´t sound bad to me, actually." Faeze gasped. "Potea."

After several exhausting minutes of dragging, the three cheetah cubs managed to bring Jantu to their lair. They did the final push towards the entrance of the old, cracked cave, getting him under its low, gray and rocky ceiling. The three cheetahs took about a minute to recover their breaths. "Okay..." Faeze was looking at Jantu. "Let´s just wait for Aozo and, uhm, his friend to come."

"Who will stay with him?" Niri inquired. "I mean, we can´t leave him alone."

"I will ask my mom to let me sleep here, just for tonight." Faeze looked at his friends. "I hope you do the same."

"Sure." Niri responded.

"Whatever." Tizei rolled up his eyes.

The three cubs heard the gasps of Aozo at the distance, as well as the ones of his friend, Rila. The two cheetahs arrived at the cave. Rila raised an eyebrow. "A hyena?" She asked Aozo with an opaque voice as she was holding some plants with her mouth. Rila lowered her head and put the plants over the ground. "Where did you find him?" She glared at Faeze.

"In the river." Faeze answered. "His side is wounded, can you cure him?"

"I mean..." Rila walked hesitantly towards Jantu, gasping after seeing the yellowish liquid over the red of his wound. "I...I think so." She walked back and took the plants again with her jaws, then she approached the hyena with quicker steps. Rila got closer to the wound while chewing the plants. When she felt the plants were mashed enough and noticed the taste her mother had indicated, Rila got her snout just before the wound, then she began to lick it. After several licks, Jantu let out a long sigh all of a sudden, which sounded relieved and restful. Rila kept licking while the four cubs looked with amazement. When all of the greenish paste covered the wound entirely, Rila stopped licking. "That should be enough." She looked at the cubs.

Faeze sighed. "Thank you so much." He smirked at her.

Rila smiled back. "No problem, it serves me as practice." She chuckled a bit. Rila looked back at the hyena. "Still...what are you going to do with him after he gets better? How do you know he isn´t, well, dangerous?"

"We don´t." Faeze answered, also glaring at Jantu. "But we hope the best."

"And that means, the first hyena in Karu-Karu!" Niri exclaimed.

Rila sighed while shaking her head. "Your little 'squad' game?"

"Karu-Karu is not a squad, is a lifestyle." Aozo corrected.

"Neither a game." Tizei added. "By the way...do you want to join?" The other three cubs looked at him with disapproving eyes. "What?" He blushed a bit.

"So funny, like if anyone in Ferezan would like to be part of...whatever this is." Rila responded. "But...thanks for the offer, anyway." She began to walk away towards the cave´s exit. "Keep me posted about, uhm..."

"Potea." Niri expressed. "I came up with that." He added with pride.

"Sure..." Rila raised an eyebrow. "Potea." She finally exited the cave.

The four cubs stood in silence for a few moments, looking at Jantu. "So..." Tizei looked at the exit then right back at the hyena. He raised his gaze to look at Faeze. "What now?"

Faeze delayed a bit to respond. "We ask our mothers." He switched his glare from Jantu to Tizei and the rest. "You know, to stay here this night."

Tizei nodded. "Alright, but I can´t guarantee you she´ll accept."

"Me neither." Niri and Aozo said at the same time.

Faeze sighed. "Yeah, same here." He thought for a moment. "We´ll have to try at least. Let´s go." The four cubs left the cave in a hurry. Faeze, inside his thoughts, was trying to figure out what Jantu could´ve gone through, and how would he react when he woke up.

Niri approached his parents cautiously, who were laying in front of the entrance of their cave. "Uhm, mom?" He sat down before them.

Laye, as Niri´s mother was called, let out a brief yawn. "Hey, Niri. Had fun with your friends?"

"Yes, uhm, I just wanted to know if, well, only if you want I mean..." Niri started to get nervous.

"Yes?" Laye raised an eyebrow.

"Well..." Niri took a deep breath. "The boys want to have a...sleepover at the lair."

Laye nodded slowly. "And you want to go, right?" Niri replied with a firm nod. Laye sighed and looked at her mate. "What do you think?" Her mate, Govo, just raised his shoulders. She let out another sigh and looked at her son with eyes of warning. "Alright, Niri, but be caref..."

"Thanks!" Niri left with hurried steps, letting his mother´s advice unfinished.

"No, Faeze." Fuli told her cub, they were inside their cave, the Great Cave as it was called, next to the fire at the middle. "You are not old enough for that yet."

Azaad was giving more thought to Faeze´s request. "Well, there´s always a first time, right?" He smirked at his son.

"Azaad..." Fuli looked at her mate with a straight glance.

Azaad chuckled and approached her, nuzzling her face. "Come on, love. It could do him good."

"Yes, it could! Maybe that will show me how to live in herd and take care of myself!" Faeze raised an eyebrow as he was unsure if those words actually came from his mouth.

Azaad looked at Fuli. "Sounds good to me."

Fuli kept her straight face, making Azaad to look away. She looked into Faeze´s eyes, trying to make a decision, remembering she was about his age when she went on wild and dangerous adventures, considering this was far away from that level. She let out a long, hesitant sigh. "One night, only. You understand?"

Faeze nodded several times, with a smirk on his face. "Yes, yes I understand mom." He approached his father and licked his cheek briefly, then he did the same to his mother.

Fuli chuckled and licked him back. "Have fun. And take care, Faeze."

"I will!" Faeze left the cave, excited and relieved.

Fuli looked at Azaad again. "Since when you´re the good, permissive dad?" She raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly at him.

Azaad chuckled. "I´ve always been, love. The bossy, tough mom, that´s your role."

"Hey..." Fuli hit his face gently with her paw. "Not funny." She made up a face of annoyance.

Azaad caressed her with his forehead. "You know I´m kidding...a bit."

"Mom, please! All Karu-Karu will go!" Aozo was pleading to his mother, who laid over the top of their cave. "Mom." He patted her front paws.

"No it´s no, son." Saisa said with a firm tone. "I don´t know why you enjoy playing with those kids that much. They´re bad influence."

"They´re not, mom, they´re my friends. Please, just one night." Aozo insisted.

"No!" Saisa reaffirmed strongly, making him to lower his head. He raised it a bit, wanting to try again, but the imperative eyes of his mother prevented him to do so. He turned around instead, jumping off the cave, leaving with his gaze lowered.

Tizei climbed a tree with the help of several thick branches, reaching the one where his mother was sleeping. He walked towards her slowly. "Mom." He murmured. "Hey, mom."

"Mhm." Anira expressed with tiredness.

"Uhm, can I sleep in the lair tonight? You know, with Faeze and the others." Tizei said, not getting a response. "Mom?"

Anira yawned. "Ask your dad."

Tizei rapidly went down the tree and ran in search for his father, finding him hanging out with other male cheetahs under the shadow of the trees. "Dad!"

Tombe looked at his son, getting into his paws as he saw him approach. "Tizei?"

Tizei stopped running right before him, breathing in and out with exhaustion. "I...I want to sleep in the lair..." He inhaled. "...tonight...can I?"

Tombe thought for a moment. "I don´t know, son."

"Come on, let your kid have some fun!" One of the adult cheetahs joked, being mimicked by the rest, telling Tombe similar statements.

"Hush!" Tombe warned, silencing some of the funny comments. "Ask your mother."

"She told me to ask you." Tizei replied, generating some chuckles between his father´s friends.

Tombe didn´t know what to say. "Uhm, did she?" He looked away for a moment then glared back at his son. "Then, uhm, do as you...wish."

Tizei raised an eyebrow, looking away a couple of times then back into his father´s eyes. "Uhm, thanks? Dad?" He left with doubtful steps, looking back a few times.

"Is that all you got? Really?" Another cheetah mocked, making the rest to laugh strongly, to Tombe´s chagrin.


	32. Episode 32: Junction

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 32: Junction

The night had arrived, covering the forest of Ferezan, the sounds of the insects calmed the dark blue atmosphere among the trees and the grass. Faeze, Niri and Tizei were waiting for Aozo, laying around Jantu. "He won´t come, Faeze, maybe his mom didn´t let him." Tizei supposed.

"Or he is gettting ready." Niri opined.

"Ready? He literally only needs to walk this way." Tizei replied and yawned, resting his head over his front paws. "We should just sleep now."

Niri raised an eyebrow. "Aren´t we gonna play first? Or tell stories? Even just talk a bit?" Niri asked with a subtle pleading tone. "It´s kinda early, Tizei."

Tizei let out another yawn. "Nope."

Faeze noticed Niri lowering his head with disappointment. He also didn´t want to play or talk that much at the moment, it had been a very exhausting day for the little cubs, but he knew these kind of things really excited him, so he just decided to try his best. "Got any jokes, Niri?"

"Oh!" Niri looked at him with a sudden smile. "Yes! I know a good one. Uhm, let me remember..." He silently recited the first words of the joke. "Wait." Faeze chuckled slightly. "Uhm...oh yeah...it goes this way. What´s the difference between a honeybadger and a hippo?"

"What is it, Niri?" Faeze inquired.

"Well...that...you know the, uhm, honey..." Niri raised an eyebrow while trying to come out with the answer he remembered was so funny. "Uh..."

Suddenly, Aozo entered the cave, sighing and gasping repeatedly. "Hey guys..." He was recovering his breath effortfully, immediately laying over the ground. "I made it."

"I´m surprised she let you." Tizei was talking about Aozo´s mother, who he knew was strict.

"Uhm, yeah...about that..." Aozo looked away. "Nevermind, what did I miss?"

"Aozo, we all needed permission. I don´t want any trouble with your mom." Faeze had stood up, he approached him with a straight face.

"Relax, buddy, I´m the one who´s getting scolded tomorrow, not a big deal." Aozo responded, standing up while walking around. "So, wanna fight?"

"Yes!" Niri jumped by the excitement.

Faeze sighed. "Alright but just for a..." His eyes widened and looked at Jantu then back at his friends. "Wait, no, we must take care of Potea."

"Oh, he is fine. Look." Aozo gestured at the peacefully sleeping hyena. "It´s not like we are fighting outside of the cave."

"But..." Faeze had some hidden fear from the hyena, even if it was minimal. "...what if he wakes up?"

"Then, that means we did a good job, actually." Aozo said.

"Yes, that´s true." Niri supported.

Faeze remained thoughtful, looking at Jantu, focused on the tip of his fang, which peeked out from the flew of his snout. "O...kay, then." He crouched briefly then jumped towards Aozo, tackling him and biting him. "Then you´ll have to suffer my wrath tonight!" He chuckled as well as Aozo, Niri let out a blissful laugh as well, jumping at them, biting and throwing blows with his small paws, as well as his pals. Tizei pretended to not care for a couple of minutes, but he couldn´t resist and finally joined the little fight that was taking place next to the hyena, who still slept in great peace.

Inside the cave of Pride Rock, Kion and Rani were resting, just waiting for the sleep to arrive. Kion was laying his head over her neck. "Any advance with the warriors?"

"The lionesses and the cheetahs are working good together, they are training to blend their abilities the best they can." Rani spoke with a rather disinterested voice.

"Good." Kion said. "Is anything wrong, love?" Kion licked her head.

Rani delayed a bit to respond. "Everything." Her voice was broken.

"Hey." Kion nudged her. "Tell me." He gently rested his head over her neck again. "Just tell me."

Rani sobbed. "It´s fine. I´m fine."

Kion sighed. "Please, Rani, tell me, how is everything wrong, as you said?"

Rani let out a sad breath. "My children...my nephews...those poor little cubs..." A large tear formed between her eyelids. "...far from home...confused." She cried softly. "I want them here, Kion, my Emba, my sweet Ari...just here, laying by me...feeling their young fur, their lovely breathing. That´s all I want."

Kion caressed her continuously with his muzzle. "That´s exactly how I feel, darling, believe me. I miss their games, I miss their talks...their antics." He let out a long, dense sigh. "...but they have to stay in Ungari, with Kovu."

Rani began to cry stronger. "I want them here, Kion..." She remembered their scents, their voices and their faces, the color of their eyes, the patterns of their fur, the tones of their paws. "I want to see them, Kion, please." Her cry became more bitter.

"We will see our children again, my love. Not soon, I´m afraid." Kion´s direct words made her to cry deeper. "We must be patient and expect this dark times to end as soon as possible, and that way we´ll be able to stay together again, as a family."

"When did all things went so wrong?" Rani kept sobbing. "When did we ask for this tribulation?"

Kion got his face right next to hers. "When we accepted our duty." He licked her. "But I insist, Rani. Better times will come. I just don´t know when."

"Will we be alive when those times come, Kion?" Rani said with sorrow.

"Yes, dear." Kion licked her face once again, then let out a sigh and rested his head over his paws. "I´m sure we will." He tried to fall asleep, but it was impossible for him to ignore the crying of his beloved, he started to nudge her face continuously, appeasing her sadness a bit, but not enough. A sudden memory of his mother came to his mind, one of a similar night, when the little Kion couldn´t bare the pain he felt on a wound across his paw. Nala sung a comforting song for him that time, a song he still remembered and began to recite, looking at her with deep care and love.

_The stars just forgot to show their light,_

_In the night of lonesome pain and fright,_

_But this darkness will not last forever,_

_As the sun awaits so warm and tender._

_When your eyes close and your paws spread,_

_A new dream will save you as you pled,_

_But for now the braveness shall prevail,_

_For the peace that you seek to unveil._

_And if even then you still feel lost,_

_When the worry comes and then accost,_

_My warmth will keep you away from fear,_

_And my love shall heal this wound you bear._

_Sleep oh child the night will pass away,_

_To bring joy and peace to this new day,_

_One of chants and games and worlds to see,_

_Day of light, of sun, of blue mourn free._


	33. Episode 33: Remembrance

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 33: Remembrance

Baturu was speaking with Denji under the stars of the night, their light looked dim compared to the one that the lava streams around them irradiated. "There were no casualties, my king. They also informed me some hyenas managed to escape." Denji saw that Baturu´s smile of satisfaction didn´t decrease.

Baturu´s glare was locked on the dark horizon. "Starvation and illness will finish the job, Denji. And that´s reassuring for me...and adequate for those shameful animals." Now all he was thinking about was in how the rest of the kingdoms would react. "Speak honestly, Denji." He looked at the young lion. "If you were with the ones against us, would you be afraid?"

Denji intuited the answer that his king could´ve been wanting to hear right away, but also knew Baturu wasn´t that predictable. "It depends." He responded rather hesitantly.

Baturu´s smile turned into a serious expression. "On what?"

Denji gave some deep thought to his answer. "On the strength of my forces, if they could match yours...my king."

Baturu didn´t switched his gaze from Denji´s. "And, do you think our forces can be matched?"

Denji got more calm as the answer he was about to provide actually reflected his true thoughts. "No, my king...our forces can´t be matched by any existing kingdom."

Baturu grinned again at him, nodding slowly, gently glaring back at the horizon. "That´s right, Denji. They have no chance against us, not a single one. My kingdom will be the only kingdom, and the ones that are now called kings and queens shall remain just as an old memory."

"What´s our next move?" Denji inquired.

Baturu delayed a bit to answer. "The jackals. They´ve claimed the Outlands for themselves...but not for long."

Ferezan´s fresh smell of green and midnight peace reached Jantu´s nostrils, the deepness of the dream he was in faded away, he opened his eyes slowly then started to sniff while looking around in the darkness, the moonlight from outside got the cave illuminated enough for him to distinguish the shapes of the four cheetah cubs sleeping around him, he let out a gasp, loud enough to wake the four cubs, who all started to scream, thing that made Jantu to scream as well, confused and scared. "Hey, hey what´s going on?! Where am I?!" He inquired with agitation.

"Don´t kill us!" Niri shouted.

"Hush! Hush guys!" Faeze commanded after calming himself down. "Hi, uhm...welcome to Ferezan."

Jantu raised an eyebrow, looking cautiously at the standing cubs. "Ferezan? H...How d…?" He tried to stand up but he bumped his head with the low rocky ceiling, gasping strongly by the pain and laying down again. "Gah!"

"Careful." Aozo said rather late.

Jantu sighed. "How did I get here?"

"We found you in the river and we brought you into our lair." Faeze explained. "You were very wounded as well...and we healed you. Well, not exactly us but...you get the point...your welcome, by the way."

Jantu started to have more questions. "Wounded?" Suddenly, he felt some dim pain on his side, which made him remember the events of the previous day. "Oh...now I..." He stood quiet for a moment.

"Did you fight someone or fell off? Maybe both?" Niri asked with intrigue.

Jantu delayed a bit to provide an answer. "The later. I don´t remember anything after so. But..." His voice started to break. "I surely remember everything before that." Jantu decided to tell them his story. "We were expelled from our home...by the Pride Landers...and your warriors...we wandered in the desert, alone, hopeless and hungry...many of us died, including my mother..." He sobbed. "She is dead now..." Jantu suddenly started to cry. "Then we got ambushed, our tired paws weren´t match for those relentless warriors...I escaped from them, and then..." He looked at their young faces. "Then I woke up here." Jantu kept crying, he lowered his head and got his face over his front paws, crying stronger.

The cheetahs felt devastated with the story of Jantu, specially Niri, who started to walk towards him. "Niri, wait!" Faeze murmured, being ignored by Niri, who approached the crying hyena and placed a paw over his. Jantu´s crying decreased a bit, then he raised his gaze, looking into the cub´s eyes, without saying a word.

"You are with Karu-Karu now, and Karu-Karu care about their members." Niri said with a firm, convinced tone. "You have nothing to be afraid, okay?" Niri´s voice was broken as he felt deeply sorry for Jantu.

Tears kept flowing from Jantu´s eyes, a subtle smile appeared on his face. "What´s your name?"

"I´m Niri." He responded with a smirk.

Jantu let out a sudden chuckle of wellness. "Jantu. Nice to meet you..." He looked at the other tree cubs. "Nice to meet you all."

"I´m Faeze. Leader of Karu-Karu." The cheetah expressed.

"Aozo." The cub said.

"And my name is Tizei." The last one revealed.

Jantu kept glaring into their eyes. "But...what is this Karu-Karu thing?"

"A lifestyle." Faeze said proudly.

"A tribe." Tizei added.

"Karu-Karu is also a family...uhm...Jantu." Niri expressed.

Jantu had more questions in his mind. "So, I´m not in danger?" He tried to think well in his words to avoid offending the little cheetahs. "The ones who expelled us...there were Ferezans among them."

Faeze wasn´t sure on how to respond. "All I can tell you is, as Niri said..." He took a couple steps to the front. "That we will protect you." He gulped before making the bold statement he was about to make. "Even from our own kind if necessary."

Jantu felt a reassuring warm in his heart. "And why? What could I possibly be worth for?"

Faeze didn´t have the precise answer to his question, but a provisional yet convincing one. "That, my friend...that we´ll have to find out."

Jakir was trembling by the unmerciful cold of the night´s wind, looking at the moon, as it gave him some sense of safety, even if he was laying just by the cave. He felt tempted to disobey his mother´s words and enter the cave as he felt the freezing cold to the bone. "Nguvu..." He gasped while clenching his teeth, fighting against the lump in his throat, denying the tears he felt coming. "...nguvu..." He kept repeating that word, a word his father told him frequently.

"_Nguvu, Jakir!" Jazanu shouted at his son, who was in a life or death situation, holding strongly from the sloping precipice._

_Jakir gasped. "Dad! Please, help me!" He cried with desperation._

"_And when I´m gone?! When I leave you and your brother, what will you do?!" Jazanu exclaimed. "Nguvu! Nguvu!"_

_Jakir tightened his grip on the floppy rocks he was holding from. He let out a scream of effort and held from an upper rock with his right paw. "I´m gonna fa..!"_

"_No! No you are not!" Jazanu interrupted. "Your life is in your hands now, son!"_

_Jakir breathed in and out desperately. He gasped again and went upper by holding from another rock, trying not to look down. "Ng...nguvu..." He spoke with his trembling voice. "Nguvu!" Jakir focused his glance on the clouds while patting the rocky wall with his paw, trying to reach another set of rocks. "Nguvu!"_

"_Nguvu!" Jazanu repeated, secretly doubting his son would pass the test._

_Jakir kept climbing, inhaling and exhaling strongly, he looked at his father with commitment, not wanting to let him down, his claws punctured the dirt of the rocky wall firmly as he went up. He almost didn´t realize he was already reaching the edge of the cliff, and after climbing a bit more, with the greatest of efforts, he finally reached the edge, laying down over his side while breathing in and out with tiredness, yet with a sense of success. "Did I..." He took some air. "...pass, dad?"_

_Jazanu sat down before his son, looking at him with pride, smirking and knowing he would grow into a strong warrior. "Yes, Jakir. You passed the test."_

_Jakir smiled, slowly getting onto his paws. He looked at his father with excitement. "Does that mean I can join your forces now?!"_

_Jazanu chuckled. "Not so fast, son." He approached him and nudged his neck. "You´re strong, brave...but young, nonetheless." Jazanu kept smirking at Jakir. "You´ll have to wait for that."_

"_Oh, alright..." Jakir lowered his gaze rather disappointed. "And, when is Jenuk gonna do the test, dad?"_

_Jazanu looked away, sitting down with a reflective glare. "Your brother is different, Jakir. He has no place among the warriors." He lowered his head slightly. "He is weak of body...but strong of mind and heart." Jazanu looked directly into his son´s eyes. "Protect him, Jakir. He needs you and you will need him one day, I have no doubt about it." Jazanu smiled. "Alright?"_

_Jakir wasn´t sure if he understood his father´s words, but he nodded at him anyway. "Yes, dad, I´ll protect him."_

_Jazanu approached him once again and got his forehead against his. "You´re my life, son, both you and your brother, as well as your mother. If one day I don´t return from battle, I want y..."_

"_No, dad, don´t say those things." Jakir interrupted with a clear tone of worry._

"_I have to, son." Jazanu replied. "When I´m gone, I want you to lead them, to be their rock. And I will sleep in peace knowing you´ll be there for them."_

_Jakir felt a great burden suddenly menacing him, but ´nguvu´ came to his mind, and he didn´t want to disappoint his dad. "I´ll be their rock, father." He looked into his eyes. "Nguvu."_

_Jazanu smiled and nudged his face. "Nguvu, son of mine."_

Jakir started to get up, trembling greatly. "Nguvu." He repeated, his words exited as a white vapor, provoked by the coldness of that night. "I will not let you down." He looked upwards for a moment, feeling the companion of the stars, then started to walk casually over the dry grass. "My brother needs me, so my mother. What about Queen Jasiri and her mate? What about Jaye and Jara?" He asked himself inside his mind. "Are they my family now as well?" He suddenly felt a great shame in his heart, a lump formed in his throat with no warning. "What´s wrong with me?" Jakir could only see his father´s eyes of disappointment, as he had broken his promise, by hurting Jenuk, maybe also when he hurt Jaye and Jara. "What can I do to fix this, father?" A tear traveled down over his fur. He suddenly stopped walking and sat down in the middle of the landscape. Jakir looked at a far set of trees that almost conformed a small forest, guessing he could find some small preys there, to receive his new family with tasty threats in the morning, as a modest apology. "Maybe..." He thought.


	34. Episode 34: Quiescence

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 34: Quiescence

Jakir got into the little, mysterious forest, yet a strangely calm and peaceful place, the cold of the night was almost absent there, the trees, also rather small sized, embraced him with a warmth he was thankful to be receiving, comforting his numb legs and paws. Flying insects illuminated the place dimly yet adequately, glowing with a light blue, mixing with the green and brown tones of the trees and plants.

The little hyena cub had forgotten why he went there in the first place, delighted by the music that a hidden river performed along with the crickets´ singing, seeing how the light of the stars went through the leaves of the trees, in a way he had never experienced before. Jakir decided to sit down over the fresh ground, getting his front paws inside the cold soil, enjoying the peace he was having, while not feeling sleepy, he certainly felt like if he was having a deep rest, wondering how his family would react to the strange place he had found. There he remembered his intentions there, so he got onto his paws and kept walking while tilting his head occasionally, trying to hear some slight noise that could lead him to a prey.

The minutes passed and Jakir still couldn´t find any prey, but he didn´t feel impatient or upset, he just kept walking, avoiding laying branches and rocks, discovering new paths to follow, unexpected passages that led him to more beautiful spots inside that enigmatic forest. He stumbled upon a river, one of many as he had previously discovered. Jakir stood on the edge of the river, looking at its blue water, glowing by the stars above. He carefully got his paw inside the water, gasping as he thought it would feel cold, but on the contrary, it felt very warm, even warmer than the air around him. Hesitantly, Jakir jumped into the water, staying sunk for a long moment, with his eyes closed, enjoying the heat of the river´s quiet water.

Jakir finally stuck his head out of the water, taking a deep breath while laughing blissfully, even suspecting he could´ve been in a dream. He just swam casually in the tranquil blue water, just thinking and remembering, letting the thoughts join and lead to new ones, admiring the scene with his own words, in his mind or sometimes with whispers. Jakir didn´t feel alone, despite having no animals around him other than the bugs, every feeling but sadness, unrest or anguish was present there, now he was completely sure he would tell his mother, his brother and his new family about that fascinating forest.

After feeling tired, he swam towards the top of a rock that came out of the water, gently getting his paws over it and laying down, still incredibly close to the water. He got lost in the clearness of the river, looking at the beautifully distorted rocks and vegetation sunk in the bottom of it, then he just looked at his surroundings, resting his head over his front paws. He closed his eyes slowly, starting to get asleep, being softly lulled by the sound of the warm wind and the singing of different insects, getting embraced by the gentle darkness of a dream to come, one that revealed slowly, in the form of a song.

_A new horizon shines for you,_

_One of love and lustrous feelings,_

_Set apart your hate and anger,_

_Care for those who live around you._

_Take the mission, take this calling,_

_As no one can replace your deeds,_

_Feel brave, strong and confident,_

_By the heat your heart has received._

_Know this is way more jubilant,_

_Something much greater than your pride,_

_As claws our words and actions can,_

_Injure the ones who share our fight._

_The clouds are leaving for the sun,_

_To show its brightness once again,_

_Set apart your hate and anger,_

_Care for those who live around you._

Jakir opened his eyes slowly, gasping as he thought it would be daytime already, but the stars were still shining above and the darkness still covered the atmosphere of the place. Somehow, he felt as if he had rested for hours, invigorated, remembering the reason he had gone there. The little cub got onto his paws, stretching and breathing in and out, then he jumped from the rock to the ground next to the river and began to walk in look for the preys he wanted to get.

The minutes passed, Jakir remained confident, hoping to hear any suspicious sound at any moment, and then his patience finally paid off. He heard little rushed steps at the distance, his ear twitched right away and he started to head towards the possible source of the sound with the help of his instinct, passing by the foliage, running between the trees and jumping old, laying trunks. Jakir slowed down for a moment, taking each step with extreme silence, tilting his head while his ear twitched, he turned his gaze towards a large bush, managing to notice the brief movement of its leaves, not made by the wind but by something else, Jakir could even smell the rodent scent that was surely hiding inside the bush. He approached the bush carefully and quietly then he suddenly jumped into it, getting half of his body inside the bush, laughing with satisfaction and aggressiveness when spotting the pair of grass rats that hid there, he held one against the ground with his paw, making it squeak fearfully, while killing the other one with a quick bite, then he did the same with the one he had been holding.

Jakir decided to leave the two rats inside the bush, not fearing anyone would steal them. There were five left to go, as he calculated, he certainly wouldn´t leave himself without a snack to enjoy. The hunt became frolic for him, he ran, jumped and climbed in order to get more preys, patiently managing to hunt more grass rats, arranging them together in the bush. When the hunt was over, Jakir had seven dead rats inside the bush, waiting to be eaten and enjoyed by his new family. He was smiling proudly by seeing the amount of snacks he had gathered, all on his own. "Nguvu." He murmured.

All of a sudden, the sun showed up above and the stars vanished, confusing him a bit. Jakir shrugged and took three rats with his jaws, getting the other four rats over his back. The little cub started to walk home, looking around him with nostalgia, knowing he would miss the place but also feeling comforted by knowing it was rather close to the cave he and his family now lived in. Jakir savored the rats he had in his mouth but resisted to take even a single bite as he walked under the welcoming sun of the morning, stepping on the dry grass with enjoyment.

After a few minutes, he spotted the cave, smiling when imagining the reactions of his mother, Jenuk, Jaye, Jara, Jasiri and Janja. Jakir finally approached the cave, shyly entering, finding out everyone was still asleep. He gently put the grass rats over the ground, then he kept looking at the sleeping hyenas. With a lot of hesitation, he let out a strong, noisy laugh, waking everyone up, alarming some of them.

"What?! What´s going on?!" Janja got onto his paws immediately, looking around him, same as Jasiri, only that she looked a bit calmer. "Oh..." He sighed. "It´s you, Jakir."

Jasiri coudln´t help but laugh by Janja´s reaction. "What?! Wha..." She imitated him while chuckling.

"Son, what´s going on?" Jaira yawned while standing up.

"Grass rats!" Jaye exclaimed with emotion.

Jakir chuckled. "Those are for you all..." He lowered down his gaze. "I´m sorry...for everything." Jakir walked towards his little brother, nudging his forehead, he then approached Jaye and Jara, doing the same thing. He sat down among them while looking at his mother. "I know it´s not enough..." He gestured at the grass rats. "...but it´s all I can offer."

"Oh, son..." Jaira was moved, she walked towards him and stroked him gently with her snout, going from his head to his back. "Thank you. It´s a noble gesture." She smirked at him. "I´ve forgiven you already, Jakir. But still...you must fulfill your punishment."

Jakir nodded while lowering down his gaze. "I know, mom."

"Yet, I can´t speak for our hosts." Jaira looked at Jasiri and his mate then turned her gaze at their two cubs.

"Oh, I...I forgive you, Jakir." Jaye said firmly.

Jara hesitated to speak, looking at Jakir with resentment. She glanced down for a moment and let out a long sigh. "Don´t worry, Jakir." Jara looked at him with a subtle smirk. "I forgive you too."

"It´s fine, buddy." Janja said. "Those things happen, you know?"

Jasiri looked at Jakir with a calm look, one that reflected esteem and comprehension. "Thanks, Jakir. I really appreciate this." She looked at his mate then at her two cubs. "We all do."

"Can we eat now?" Jenuk asked.

Jaira chuckled, as well as Jasiri and Janja. "Sure, that looks delicious."

"Go ahead, kids." Jasiri said.

Jaye and Jara hurried towards the rats followed by Jenuk and Jakir. They chose their rat from the heap and began to eat it with delight. Janja took a step towards them then looked at Jasiri as if he needed permission. "Uhm, my stomach is growling a bit, sweetheart."

Jasiri smirked at him while raising her eyebrow and chuckling. "Go have yours, love." With that, Janja nodded at her and rushed rapidly towards the rats, picking one and munching it right away. Jasiri chuckled while shaking her head and looking at the scene. "He is so like a cub sometimes, you know?" She told Jaira who had just sat down next to her.

Jaira laughed a bit as well. "Same as my Jaz..." She stopped talking all of a sudden, glaring down with shame.

Jasiri looked at her compassionately. "It´s okay, Jaira."

Jaira looked at her two cubs, feeling a knot in her throat. "My...Jazanu." She sighed with sadness. "Sometimes he behaved the same way." Jaira chuckled. "Cute and...rather...innocent."

Jasiri noticed she couldn´t keep speaking as the sadness she beared was too strong, so she nudged her friendlily, calming her sorrow a bit.


	35. Episode 35: Despondency

The Lion King: Dawn Of The Nations

Episode 35: Despondency

Dogo and Garia were walking under the dying heat of the sunset, right next to The Outlands´ great defile, stepping slowly over the hard, red brownish rock, with calmness and quietude. "How will he...or she live here, darling?" Dogo inquired.

"What do you mean?" Garia raised an eyebrow, having her gaze locked on the horizon.

"I want my cub to live in peace, carefree, not worrying about war, about loss..." Dogo lowered down his gaze. "Even now, I fear for his life, her life..." He sighed. "I fear for our cub, and for you, Garia."

"Why? There has always been conflict around us, Dogo, and yet we are here, united and strong." Garia nuzzled his neck.

"I know, but...until when?" Dogo inquired. "There is no safe place or time for us to enjoy this, my beloved..."

"You are wrong, sweetheart." Garia spoke reassuringly. "No matter the time, no matter the place or situation, even if our entire species were wiped out and The Outlands were reduced to mere ashes...we´ll be a family, a loving mother, a caring father and a beautiful cub, all together, being thankful and happy, sharing laughs and signs of affection, maybe between dead, between havoc, but always having precious moments." She stroked him continuously with her forehead.

Dogo nodded, having a straight face and a tear forming in the corner of his eye. "I had a terrible dream last night." His voice was broken. "I...I saw you dying...in a horrible way." He began to sob quietly. "The lion ate you, not leaving any rests over a field covered with blood." Dogo fought his own sadness, being able to hold his urge to cry. "Then the lion smiled at me, his face was suddenly right before me, with blood on his mouth and teeth." He gasped and let out a sigh. "And I did nothing...I just stood there, mourning your death...and our cub´s." Dogo couldn´t hold his crying anymore, so he started to cry bitterly. "The poor jackal wouldn´t see the light of day, he would never know his own parents, grow and make friends, play in the gorges, choose a mate and give us grandchildren..." Dogo kept crying while Garia nuzzled his face gently.

"It was just a nightmare, Dogo." Garia licked his face. "There´s nothing to worry about."

"But it can happen, my love, war will come to us, maybe sooner than we think." Dogo shook his head. "I...I love you so much, and I don´t want to lose you." He kept crying. "Nor our cub."

"You are so afraid, darling...and that´s okay. But still, you have never been carried away by fear, don´t let it dominate you." Garia spoke firmly and reassuringly.

"I try." Dogo grunted. "But it´s so strong, so...hard to overcome."

"You are not alone, Dogo." Garia walked closer to him, resting her face on his, nuzzling him. "I´m here, right at your side, forever."

Dogo stood silent for a moment then he replied with a calmer tone. "I´ve thought of something that could ease my fear, something that will keep you and our cub safe." He sobbed. "Maybe, you can escape war before it reaches our land. Run away, until The Outlands, The Pridelands, Ferezan and all of the kingdoms disappear from your sight, and after that, keep running, until you reach a place of peace, where you can take care of our cub, and let him grow happy, away from all disturbance."

"Dogo." Garia said with a straight tone, still caressing his face with her own. "There´s no such place...not now at least."

Dogo sighed. "The Unending Mountain, you said you believe in it."

Garia´s gaze was locked on the ground. "I do, but as it could be real, it also couldn´t, darling. And even if it was, it´s far away from my capacities, my cub and I would suffer slow deaths, under the uncovered sun, surrounded by the desert´s nothingness. The vultures would have a feast like none they had before...and that would be the end of your mate and our cub."

Dogo´s crying increased. "Why am I so weak, Garia? You don´t deserve a mate like me, fearful...pathetic."

Garia nuzzled him. "You are not weak, sweetie. Fear is part of life, feeling it doesn´t make you pathetic." She stroked him with her forehead. "I love you." She licked him. "I will be your shelter, sweetheart, in this time and the ones to come. And we will raise our cub together, at war, at peace, at abundance, at shortage...I´ll never leave you."

Kion and Rani were supervising the training of the warriors, the cheetahs and the lions conformed two teams, the goal was to ´eliminate´ the members of the rival team by tackling them, until only one team remained. The exercise was taking place behind Pride Rock, Kion and his mate were watching from an elevation there while the warriors ran over the tall, dry grass, under the moonlight. "These are strong warriors, Rani." Kion said, looking at them with confidence. "We can win this."

Rani nodded, with some doubt in her thoughts. "Koca has trained them well." She saw how the cheetahs rapidly charged at the lions. "Ferezan´s forces are being of great help."

"Strength and speed." Kion studied the performance of the warriors. "A great combination for victory." He suddenly remembered his days in the Lion Guard. "A balanced force to take down our enemies, to fight back...and defend."

Rani looked at her mate, seeing the nostalgic look on his eyes. "Battle always brings back those memories, doesn´t it?" She got closer to him and nuzzled him.

Kion sighed. "Yes. I can´t believe how much time has passed since our last battle cry." He chuckled. "A bunch of kids protecting the Pride Lands..."

"And you all did a very good job, Kion." Rani stroked him. "The kingdom will always be in debt with you."

Kion had his gaze still focused on the warriors´exercise. "The Lion Guard made me who I am today, and that´s why I´m not afraid, Rani. I won´t fail Mufasa´s kingdom, Baturu will be defeated."

Rani kept stroking him with her forehead. "Just keep firm, as you´ve always done. And regardless of all this, of your duties...stay calm for me, okay?"

"Calm?" Kion looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

Rani sighed, lowering down her head while closing her eyes. "A leader also needs to be serene, in order for his judgment to stay, but also to avoid losing himself, forever."

Kion looked away for a moment, thinking on his mate´s words. "Losing myself? Rani…." He glared back at her. "Do you think I´m losing myself, as you just said?"

Rani shook her head. "No, Kion. Not yet." She opened her eyes, looking at the ongoing exercise. "If devastation reaches us and all hope is lost...don´t let your heart grow dark." She nuzzled him again. "Darkness can take different shapes, in so many ways, Kion. But I believe in the light you have inside, and that makes me feel calmer."

"Rani, I will do what it takes to keep our land safe. And I do not fear I´ll take any missteps, because I have you, my dear." He licked her and nuzzled her. "With you by my side, I have nothing to be afraid of...not even myself."

In Ungari, at midnight, Emba was walking over the paths and tunnels of the place, bearing a great sadness, thinking about Pride Rock and his parents. He had a lump in his throat, one he struggled to hold. The moonlight gently illuminated his steps, Emba stopped walking right at the edge of a cliff. He laid down there while looking at the pool and the waterfalls, paying attention to the sound of the falling water to distract himself. That sound made him feel accompanied in some way, it also gave him a sense of security regarding his feelings, which he couldn´t hide anymore. Emba started to cry deeply, not worrying anyone could hear him as the falling of the water felt like a safe barrier for him to do so calmly. As the water, his tears kept going and his sobs didn´t stop. "I...I miss you so much, daddy..." His cry got stronger. "...mom." Emba continued crying with a clear bitter tone, letting out the pain he was feeling with careless, continuous sobs and gasps.

Author´s note: Hi, dear readers! Thank you so much for your great support! It means a lot! God bless you all! This story will be on hiatus for a while as I intend to work on another story I put aside. Take care!


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